The Pattern We See Everywhere 95% of forwarders we speak to have the same stack:
A TMS, some form of RMS, visibility tools, workflow automation in siloes
And yet…
Rate sheets still live in Excel Offices operate in silos Decisions move slower than cargo Forwarders have digitized operations.
This blog explains why even the largest forwarders stall , and how leaders can break the “Governed but Fragmented” trap.
The Hidden Problem: Digitized Workflows ≠ Digitized Intelligence Most forwarders have strong digital tools for execution — quoting, booking, tracking, documentation.
But the profit engine of the business remains:human, intuitive, slow, and fragmented.
Pricing Managers and Product owners have always played the role of human firewalls . But:
rate sources have exploded volatility is constant competitors move faster knowledge is trapped in people, not systems Intuition no longer scales. It becomes a single point of failure.
The Cost of Disconnection: Poor data quality, the inevitable outcome of fragmented systems, is not a soft cost. Gartner estimates that poor data quality costs organizations an average of $12.9 million annually [1] .
Why Forwarders Stall After Initial Digitization Even advanced forwarders run systems designed to store data , not to think with it .
This leads to slow decisions, misaligned teams, and invisible margin loss.
1. Procurement & Pricing Are Decoupled by Design Procurement negotiates long-term contracts and VIPs.But they don’t operate from the same truth.
The result:don’t show up at the point of sale .
2. The Rate Data Challenge Is a Human Burden Traditional RMS tools were built for static workflows.
Teams spend 25–35% [2] of their day searching for files, merging spreadsheets, validating rates, reconciling inconsistencies
That's talent you paid for strategy , doing data entry .
3. Spreadsheets Are an Act of Desperation, Not Strategy Excel bridges system gaps, temporarily.
But it also, hides errors, introduces leakage, blocks real-time visibility, breaks accountability
You cannot orchestrate global margins on isolated files.
The outcome is organizational disconnect: Teams work hard, data moves fast, but control is lost, and decisions move slowly.
The Leadership Shift: From Gut → Governance → Intelligence The 3-stage Maturity Model
Stage Description The Next Step for CXOs
I. Gut-Based Decisions rely on individual expertise and local knowledge.
Stabilize: Capture and codify tacit experience.
II. Governed Data is standardized and shared, but remains fragmented across the enterprise. (The Current Trap)
Unify: Create single-version visibility and accountability across functions.
III. Intelligent Systems learn from transactions, detect anomalies, and augment human judgment with predictive actions.
Orchestrate: Institutionalize continuous improvement and scale human expertise.
Where Most Enterprise Freight Forwarders Are Stuck? Most forwarders are stuck in:
Stage II — Governed, but Fragmented They have invested in:
But decisions are still slow because systems cannot connect judgment across the enterprise.
This is amplified by talent challenges:
ageing workforce high turnover institutional knowledge leaking away Why Your TMS Cannot Orchestrate Decisions Many large organizations believe their advanced TMS is the answer. However, the TMS is fundamentally a system of record , designed for transactional execution, documentation, and compliance.
It is built to house the data, but not to orchestrate decisions across fragmented data sources or to apply the prescriptive intelligence needed for Stage III.
Relying on your TMS to perform the deep-cross functional rate validation and predictive modeling required for margin protection is attempting to make a transaction engine do the work of a dedicated decision intelligence layer.
At its core, this is a capability transformation that centers on empowering the expert.
Freight leaders must build systems that scale human judgment without diluting it.
The Four Pillars of Orchestration: Freight leaders can accelerate this transformation by focusing on four interdependent enablers that restore control to the procurement function. We call these the Four Pillars of Orchestration (4PO) :
Pillar 1: Centralise the Contractual Truth.
Procurement must own the master rate repository, not just the paper contract. Every contract, surcharge, and negotiated VIP(volume incentive plans) must exist within a governed, structured repository.
Pillar 2: Replace Rigidity with Human Intuitiveness.
The future belongs to platforms that use AI/ML to automate data ingestion and reconciliation, freeing the expert from the transactional 80% to focus on the strategic 20%—negotiation, analysis, and exception handling.
Pillar 3: Bridge the Functional Chasm.
Decision quality improves exponentially when Procurement, Pricing, and Sales share a single version of truth. When Procurement wins a better rate, the system must ensure the Sales team knows about it immediately.
Pillar 4: Institutionalize Continuous Learning Loops.
Each quote, tender, and booking must feed back into the system, enabling analysis of success patterns and margin health. Effective digital transformation in procurement leads to direct cost reductions of 5% to 15% in logistics costs [3] , immediately strengthening net margins.
The Path Forward for Procurement & Pricing Leaders How fast can intelligence move across your enterprise?
Freightify’s vision: AI-first decision orchestration , where contracts, rates, and quotes are interconnected sources of truth.
We protect Procurement's strategic work, ensure pricing accuracy, and help global teams make decisions that scale.
Freight has always run on relationships.
Now it must also run on governed intelligence .
Footnotes and Sources
[1] Gartner: The Cost of Poor Data Quality: https://www.gartner.com/en/articles/the-cost-of-poor-data-quality
[2] McKinsey & Company:https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/reimagining-the-back-office-with-gen-ai
[3] McKinsey & Company:https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/industrials-and-electronics/our-insights/distribution-blog/harnessing-the-power-of-ai-in-distribution-operations
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is data-driven decision-making in freight forwarding?
It’s the process of using centralized, structured data and AI insights to drive procurement, pricing, and quoting decisions across global teams.
Q: Why is it difficult for freight forwarders to become data-driven?
Because most use legacy TMS systems and Excel workarounds that trap information in silos, making collaboration and transparency difficult.
Q: What is decision intelligence in logistics?
Decision intelligence connects data, people, and AI systems to continuously learn from transactions—transforming experience into scalable foresight.
Q: How does AI improve freight pricing and procurement?
AI learns from historical contracts, quotes, and bookings to suggest optimal pricing, detect anomalies, and improve margin consistency.
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