These days, the industry is buzzing with excitement about the next wave of AI-enabled transformation. Agentic AI—autonomous software agents capable of making business decisions with greater autonomy—with the potential of revolutionizing supply chains and offering a competitive edge for early adopters. When realized, this level of automation will undoubtedly drive efficiency and unlock new opportunities.

But what does reality look like on the ground?

At PartnerLinQ, we routinely experience a different reality on the ground. Many companies have modernized parts of their digital ecosystem—migrating some applications to cloud-based SaaS, adopting hybrid cloud infrastructure, and strengthening security. But just moving a few applications to the cloud hasn’t solved the deeper challenges preventing businesses from executing their strategy with confidence.

Not all data is still available on time or with the accuracy needed. A lot of work still happens in siloed spreadsheets, prone to errors and inefficiencies. Cross-business data visibility remains a challenge, leading to issues like missed shipments, incomplete insights to prevent chargebacks, and difficulty tracking inventory and logistics on the move.

Collaboration outside the enterprise is another bottleneck. Partner onboarding takes too long. A patchwork of manual and automated connectivity—EDI, APIs, and other protocols—still results in incomplete, inaccurate, or delayed data sharing.

The result? A fragmented digital landscape that isn’t scalable, isn’t agile, and certainly isn’t conducive to technologies like Agentic AI delivering real value. No wonder these challenges hurt the most at the worst possible times, during critical business moments of uncertainty and volatility that demand modern, adaptable, and scalable digital state.

Case for strong digital foundation: The first step toward AI-driven automation

Modernizing this landscape isn’t optional—it’s mission-critical. Jumping into AI-driven automation without a solid foundation isn’t just difficult; it’s inefficient and unsustainable. Think of it like high-performance driving—before you can push a car to its limits, you need precise handling, proper weight distribution, and a stable chassis. The same applies to businesses. Without modern, connected systems, even the most advanced AI capabilities won’t deliver meaningful impact.

But here’s the reality: many companies are still trying to accelerate with outdated EDI and rigid supply chain systems, struggling to navigate the sharp turns of today’s business demands. These legacy bottlenecks don’t just slow things down—they create friction, limit scalability, and prevent organizations from seamlessly adopting AI-driven automation. Until companies remove these roadblocks, AI will remain more of a concept than a competitive advantage.

What’s driving digital transformation in supply chain?

We’re seeing clear trends shaping how and when companies invest in digital transformation. Over the past decade, a major shift has been moving legacy LOB applications to SaaS solutions. But there’s a growing realization—SaaS alone isn’t the answer.

It’s like swapping one set of inefficiencies for another. Instead of fragmented legacy systems, businesses now face fragmentation across multi-cloud, multi-vendor, and multiple SaaS stacks—still carrying the same costly digital drag. The challenge isn’t just modernization; it’s making sure these digital investments actually drive agility, connectivity, and business impact.

From ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) upgrades to legacy system overhauls, organizations are increasingly recognizing the strategic importance of robust connectivity within the four walls of the enterprise and outside through API’s, EDI, market places, B2B portals and network applications. Here are some common scenarios we’ve encountered:

• ERP replacements: The adoption of modern ERP systems such as Dynamics 365, NetSuite, and SAP often requires cutting-edge, cloud-native EDI and API solutions. These platforms thrive on seamless integration and fall short of expectations in unlocking the full potential of digital transformation when connected through legacy integration approaches and tools.

• Legacy infrastructure challenges: Broken or outdated internal and external connectivity EDI can lead to significant business disruptions. When modernization from legacy integration to agile connectivity, resilient Cloud Native EDI/API infrastructures is essential to minimize disruptions, enhance reliability, and improve outcomes.

• Rapid partner onboarding: Need for simplified and highly digitalized multi-party platforms with multiple dimensions of capabilities (EDI, API, Files, Custom) to speed up multi-party access, connectivity that can drive collaboration with speed and precision.

• Resilience and scalability: Need for moving to cloud-native EDI/API based B2B interchange platforms are designed to grow with businesses, ensuring stability and performance.

• Error reduction: Out of control situation which lowers B2B/B2C customer satisfaction and increasing chargebacks resulting in direct impact on business outcomes.

• Cross-enterprise process visibility: Lack of unified monitoring leaving businesses without insights into transaction flows, process performance metrics, and ability to determine root-causes for eliminating recurring issues in time.

Building the path to AI-driven automation: The case for holistic digital connectivity

The future of AI-driven automation isn’t just about adopting new technologies; it’s about laying the right foundation today. Businesses must create a seamless, connected digital ecosystem—across systems, data, and processes—if they want to truly unlock AI’s potential. Without a unified, modern digital foundation, AI won’t be able to deliver the results it promises.

Progressive companies are already making smart investments in this holistic digital approach. By modernizing legacy systems, embracing cloud-native solutions, and ensuring seamless connectivity through APIs, EDI, and other network applications, they are setting themselves up for success. They understand that these investments aren’t just about solving current inefficiencies, they’re about paving the way for AI-enabled automation to thrive in the future.

For those looking to truly leverage and scale the use of AI across the enterprise, the time to act is now. By eliminating the digital friction that holds them back, businesses are laying the groundwork for a future where AI doesn’t just enhance operations—it drives them. The transition to AI-driven automation isn’t a distant goal but a natural progression for those who invest in the right digital foundation today.

Powering the future of connectivity with PartnerLinQ

What PartnerLinQ brings to the table isn’t just a cloud hosted EDI solution—it’s a comprehensive cloud native platform for supply chain digital connectivity inclusive of EDI/API and with built in Supply Chain AI and visibility that is beyond run-of-the-mill integration. It combines visibility, adaptability, and operational intelligence, all in a unified business cloud platform as a service that is tailored to unique needs of industries.

Jawad Khan, CEO & Founder, PartnerLinQ Inc.

Jawad Khan is the founder and CEO of PartnerLinQ. As the innovative force behind PartnerLinQ, Jawad guides the company in reshaping digital connectivity and collaborative intelligence within the extensive supply chain sector. His leadership philosophy is deeply rooted in ensuring that supply chains are not merely reactive but strategically positioned to respond to perpetual shifts in business demands swiftly and efficiently.

The holiday season is a time of opportunity and immense pressure, especially for businesses. With sales increasing by at least 30%, impatient consumers expect minimal wait time, partners look at filling immediate service requests, and burdened transportation and logistics cause delays. To top it all off, the employees need a vacation too!

The stakes are immense, with supply chains under stress due to surging demand, material shortages, and global disruptions. From warehouse operations to supply chain system management, skills gaps are affecting efficiency, causing delays, and ultimately impacting the bottom line. A recent survey by MHI revealed that 57% of supply chain executives cite hiring and retaining qualified workers as their biggest challenge—even surpassing material shortages and disruptions.

While technology can fill some of these gaps, it cannot do so alone. Combining innovative solutions and proactive workforce development is essential to alleviating holiday supply chain stress. That’s where PartnerLinQ comes in—a platform designed to transform your supply chain by integrating technology with your team’s capabilities.

Here are some serious facts:

What’s causing the holiday chaos?

1. Labor Shortages Across the Continuum

   • A U.S. Chamber of Commerce analysis found that even if every unemployed person with experience in durable goods manufacturing was employed, only 75% of vacant jobs could be filled.
   • Shortages in critical areas like logistics, warehouse management, and trucking exacerbate delays and inefficiencies.

2. Increased Pressure from Demand Spikes

   • The holiday season amplifies demand across industries, with retail, manufacturing, and distribution hit hardest.
   • Delays in port loading/unloading, stockouts, and shipping bottlenecks cascade downstream to retailers and customers.

3. Manual Processes

   • Despite increasing investment in automation, 70% of supply chain leaders still rely on manual processes, according to Capgemini. This reliance creates inefficiencies and hampers scalability.

Who helps clear the chaos?

PartnerLinQ streamlines supply chain operations, helping businesses like yours tackle holiday season challenges with ease. By simplifying the partner onboarding process through its Common Processing Workflow and exclusive "white glove" onboarding service, PartnerLinQ ensures rapid integration at the speed of business. With its intuitive Business Rule Manager, the platform facilitated the migration of over 1,000 partners and customers in just 12 weeks, demonstrating its swift and efficient integration capability.

Built on a scalable Azure-based hybrid cloud architecture, PartnerLinQ handles transaction volumes that ensure clients like a leading American transport and logistics company can process nearly 800,000 daily transactions—double their current requirements. This scalability empowers the company’s expanding carrier network without compromising performance. 

PartnerLinQ simplifies IT infrastructure by seamlessly integrating with legacy systems and new TMS platforms. It eliminates extra licensing and enables greater operational efficiency through real-time updates and actionable insights.

Enhanced visibility enables clients to deliver consistent customer value at every touchpoint. Armed with service-level improvements, accelerated onboarding, and a better customer experience, our clients confidently continue to meet their service-level commitments, ensuring a smooth and stress-free holiday supply chain operation.

This is what PartnerLinQ does:

• Mitigate Labor Shortages: Automate 60-80% of repetitive supply chain tasks to maximize workforce productivity.
• Improve Efficiency: Reduce operational delays by up to 30% with AI-driven optimization.
• Scalability: Handle surges in demand during the holiday season without compromising speed or quality.
• Resiliency: Proactively address disruptions, minimizing their impact on downstream operations.

Time to Enjoy: Include PartnerLinQ as Your Holiday Lifeline

The holiday season doesn’t have to be synonymous with supply chain headaches. PartnerLinQ offers a comprehensive solution to navigate labor shortages, demand spikes, and operational bottlenecks by combining advanced automation with workforce enablement.

As the MHI report highlights, 74% of supply chain executives are increasing technology investments, and PartnerLinQ ensures that every dollar spent delivers measurable ROI.

Have I got your attention yet? If not, see how we do it.

Visibility helps to transforms the supply chain from a series of isolated steps into connected, transparent processes that help organizations respond quickly to operational challenges and market opportunities.

At a time when supply chains are global and markets are volatile, being able to see and respond to change isn’t just a competitive advantage; it’s a must-have for survival and growth. Trend-spotters are winning the supply chain management game with next generation cloud-based supply chain solutions, while companies throttled by disconnected legacy systems and analytics applications are falling behind quickly.

Without real-time data on inventory levels and supplier capabilities, for example, identifying potential gaps, adjusting sourcing strategies, and tweaking production plans is nothing more than a guessing game. And as we all witnessed during the pandemic, that guessing game can turn into a liability quickly when outside forces take over the supply chain.

Rewind the clock a bit and its clear why supply chains fell prey to the pandemic-driven disruptions. Most business models relied on local production until globalization took hold and organizations started thinking and acting “leaner” when it came to inventory. Concurrently, the patchwork of legacy software systems that most companies relied on became increasingly disconnected and disparate.

Getting Global Supply Chains Back on Track

When the pandemic turned supply chains on end, companies scrambled to reshore and gain better control over these vital networks. It wasn’t enough to just be lean; organizations also had to be resilient. The pendulum swung in the opposite direction as inventories were fattened up and more attention was paid to being able to fulfill orders (versus just keeping inventory costs minimized).

And so, the race was on to improve end-to-end supply chain visibility. However, for most organizations that end goal was out of reach. One of the root problems? Legacy systems that were put in place to support lean supply chains but lacked the flexibility to offer insights for changing demands and requirements due to increased complexity and shifts in global supply chains. These solutions are now ripe for modernization in a world where customers not only expect their orders fast, but they also want to track those orders every step of the way.

PartnerLinQ not only helps companies solve these fundamental problems, but we also help them achieve the visibility goals that were previously out of reach. It starts with a unified data repository that is harmonized for the specific enterprise, and that connects all the systems the company has in place — including those aging, legacy systems that would otherwise create drag in a business environment that demands agile and flexible supply chains.

Companies also need to know that their data is secure, safe, and kept confidential. They don’t want their data residing in a “public” system that’s shared with others. With PartnerLinQ, companies know that their data resides on a private platform and that it’s never treated as public data. This is an important consideration in a world where new cybersecurity threats emerge daily.

An Elastic, Cloud-Native Solution

Because PartnerLinQ is elastic and cloud-native, the infrastructure behind it is both resilient and reliable. It can scale to any level in performance and manage all types of data. That data is both connected and harmonized in a way that ensures near-real-time visibility for business users who need analytics, reports, and dashboards that support good decision-making.

We recently worked with a large transportation company that has about 20,000 trucks along with data scattered across numerous data lakes and stores. Getting reports and analytics for efficient decision-making was nearly impossible — and by the time data was made available, it was too late to do anything meaningful with it. After implementing PartnerLinQ’s platform, the company was able to consolidate and harmonize these data sources with a robust canonical data model. As a result, PartnerLinQ improved the company’s access to critical information for making better decisions with improved reporting and dashboards to enhance its overall supply chain visibility.

This is just one example of how PartnerLinQ’s cloud-based platform helps organizations improve the visibility and efficiency of their supply chains. All these improvements translate into top-line cost savings, better asset utilization, and improved bottom lines. By acting as a conduit between different systems and partners in the supply chain, PartnerLinQ creates a seamless information flow and a clear, reliable snapshot of activity that fosters faster reaction times across these vital networks.

Jawad Khan, CEO & Founder, PartnerLinQ Inc.

Jawad Khan is the founder and CEO of PartnerLinQ. As the innovative force behind PartnerLinQ, Jawad guides the company in reshaping digital connectivity and collaborative intelligence within the extensive supply chain sector. His leadership philosophy is deeply rooted in ensuring that supply chains are not merely reactive but strategically positioned to respond to perpetual shifts in business demands swiftly and efficiently.

Highly configurable technology platforms help companies achieve their visibility goals, collaborate with business partners, and eliminate manual work.  

Most legacy supply chain management platforms currently in place were installed decades ago. These monolithic systems served their purpose, but they haven’t kept up with the demands of the modern supply chain. They’re not configurable, they can’t integrate with third-party applications, and they require a lot of manual intervention. 

The challenges of using legacy systems don’t end there. Updating these platforms with the latest “bells and whistles” is expensive and, in many cases, not even possible. These solutions were built to do everything, which unfortunately means they don’t do any one thing very well.  

As the name suggests, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems may be good financial and operational management tools across a compant, but they weren’t designed to manage the increased complexities of modern global supply chains. That didn’t stop ERP platform solution providers from adding a range of capabilities or otherwise acquiring other solution sets — from transportation management systems (TMS) to warehouse management systems (WMS) to order management systems (OMS) — to their software suites.  

Customers, wanting all-in-one systems, often adopted those functionalities as they were introduced, never evaluating, or considering other options by assuming simplicity with one platform. However, this approach too often results in rigid IT infrastructures for which changing one requirement requires adjusting everything else, too.  

Breaking Down Supply Chain Visibility Barriers 

While cloud ERP systems in the last couple of years have increased, on-premises solutions are still dominant within many organizations. On-premise legacy systems also weren’t designed for external collaboration — something every company needs but not all have. Where a TMS may have been built to connect with external carriers and transportation providers, on-premise WMS was designed to manage what was happening within the four walls of the warehouse.  

The notion of external business partners being able to “see” one another’s inventory positions, and then use the data to help get customer orders delivered within two or three days, wasn’t available when most ERPs were being developed. This is just one visibility gap companies today deal with daily.  

The good news is that organizations can close these gaps and future-proof their supply chains with a highly configurable technology platform. PartnerLinQ helps companies establish a common data foundation incorporating a semantic layer for every industry (including specific products, hierarchies, and transportation routes).  

Once that foundation is established, we build out the platform with the customer’s unique needs in mind, using the technology already in place and the outside applications needed to get everyone working from the same playbook. By providing that critical connectivity layer, PartnerLinQ helps companies break through the barriers of their monolithic business systems and leverage the power of modern, advanced technology.  

Connectivity barriers don’t exist only within your four walls. For that reason, PartnerLinQ creates strong connections with all third parties you need to communicate and share data with, including your business partners, customers, and software applications. The ability to integrate with these entities is a critical step to gaining full end-to-end supply chain visibility and collaboration.  

Adaptable, Flexible Architecture

PartnerLinQ offers the architecture, tools, and data companies need to connect with all internal and external stakeholders. We also offer a no-code/low-code environment that vastly speeds up implementation times and lets each person within the supply chain configure, maintain, and optimize the connections on their own.  

As a cloud-native application, PartnerLinQ’s platform is vertically and horizontally scalable right out of the gate. The same can’t be said for many other supply chain integration platforms on the market today. With PartnerLinQ, you can scale from hundreds to millions of transactions per month without having to make changes to your system.  

A Supply Chain that Stands the Test of Time 

In this rapidly evolving business landscape, the right digital strategy is no longer a luxury — it’s a must-have. Organizations that fall behind in this area risk losing customers, market share and revenue to competitors investing in their digital strategies.  

Being tied to a monolithic software platform can impede your supply chain visibility, partner collaboration, and long-term growth prospects. With PartnerLinQ in your corner, you can get all your data into one, accessible place. You can adjust on the fly as your company grows. And you can develop a future-proof supply chain that withstands the test of time. 

To learn more about how PartnerLinQ can help you future-proof your B2B enterprise, contact our team today.

Ahmed Samnan Raza, CTO & Co-founder

Ahmed Raza leads a dynamic team dedicated to shaping a robust, next-generation SaaS platform catering to customers across diverse industries. With his firm belief in driving continuous innovation, Ahmed’s team is on a mission team to ensure that PartnerLinQ platform remains at the forefront of business technology evolution. With a wealth of experience, Ahmed previously served as the Vice President of Product Engineering at Visionet Systems, Inc. His journey with the PartnerLinQ began at its inception, and over his 18-year career, Ahmed has played a pivotal role in a wide array of digital transformation projects spanning various segments of the supply chain industry. This includes impactful contributions to sectors such as retail, consumer goods, apparel/footwear, transportation, and food & beverage, among others.

Every supply chain, regardless of its size, is an integral part of a broader value chain consisting of customers, suppliers, service providers, each with its unique operational model and tiered ecosystem. The imperative for supply chain businesses, both big and small, is to attain digital proficiency and operate with agility and precision amidst the rapidly changing landscape shaped by geopolitical and economic forces.

Every supply chain, regardless of its size, is an integral part of a broader value chain consisting of customers, suppliers, service providers, each with its unique operational model and tiered ecosystem. The imperative for supply chain businesses, both big and small, is to attain digital proficiency and operate with agility and precision amidst the rapidly changing landscape shaped by geopolitical and economic forces.

Key required digital capabilities include connectivity with EDI, API’s, data driven analytics as well orchestrating processes across the entire ecosystem. The ultimately goal is to achieve a unified view of enterprise-wide operations and optimize execution where digital meets with the physical supply chain to ensure timely decision-making and action.

As technology evolves and data assumes a central role in decision-making, the continuous evolution and optimization of the digital landscape are paramount. Organizations that stay at the forefront of digital innovation are better positioned to adapt, thrive, and succeed in today’s competitive environment.

Journey from EDI only to APIs

Leveraging traditional methods of supply chain connectivity such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), and File Transfer technologies in isolation is no longer sufficient to meet the demands of modern commerce. The increasing complexity of global supply chains and the evolution of technology require a broader range of hybrid capabilities seamlessly fused together to truly digitalize and transform how businesses collaborate and operate.

While EDI remains a vital component of supply chain connectivity, gone are the days when EDI was the primary means of exchanging business documents between trading partners. The traditional EDI of our predecessors often lacked the flexibility and real-time capabilities needed to keep pace with today’s dynamic business environment. APIs have emerged as a more agile alternative to traditional EDI messaging, enabling real-time data exchange and integration between disparate systems. Yet, relying solely on API technologies, as we have seen in recent years, may not be enough and practical to address the diverse integration and vast communication needs of a truly modern supply chain.

Elevating Integration to Dynamic Digital Connectivity

There is an ever-increasing need for interconnectedness in the modern world, businesses no longer operate in isolation; rather they are part of a complex ecosystem involving suppliers, partners, intermediaries, carriers, customers, and more. Modern supply chain connectivity therefore must remain flexible to extend beyond the boundaries of individual relationships. Businesses must be able to seamlessly connect with multiple layers of internal and external partners to streamline processes, optimize workflows, and drive value across the supply chain ecosystem.

Holistic Digital Connectivity (beyond silo’s Integrations)

Enterprises today require a holistic more modern approach to supply chain connectivity—one that combines the strengths of EDI, APIs, traditional and emerging technologies to create a seamless and interconnected network approach to systems, partners, and processes. This approach, often referred to as hybrid integration, leverages a combination of cloud-based and middleware technologies, plus advanced integration, and data capabilities to bridge the gap between legacy and truly modern applications.

Degree of Interoperability

One of the key pillars of modern supply chain connectivity is interoperability. Businesses must be able to exchange data seamlessly with partners, suppliers, and customers regardless of systems, protocols, or preferences. This requires flexible integration solutions that transform various formats, understand multiple standards or protocols, and navigate partner preference to deliver smooth communications that traverse the ecosystem. What is more, these flexible integration solutions need to be easy to configure, simple to understand, and readily available when called to action.

Real Time Visibility

Another essential aspect of modern supply chain connectivity is real-time visibility. Today’s business users live in a digital era and demand instant access to accurate, up-to-date information about inventories, orders, shipments, and statuses. Achieving this level of visibility, sensitivity, and sophistication requires advanced data analytics capabilities, AI-driven insights, and IoT-enabled sensors that can capture and analyze data in real-time, providing actionable intelligence to decision-makers on a timely basis. Here too, visibility tools need to be easy to configure, simple to understand, and readily available when called into action.

The Role of Composability in Dynamic Digital Business Integration

Composability plays a crucial role in enabling businesses to deploy new business capabilities at a pace necessary for success through the reuse of integration/connectivity applications and options by leveraging industry specific modular and reusable components. Organizations can rapidly assemble and deploy integration solutions tailored to specific needs quickly, reducing time-to-market and accelerating innovation only when the right set of tools is available.

Moreover, the ability of IT analysts to bring solutions together with minimal effort and without hard coding becomes essential for achieving truly dynamic digital configurations. Modern configuration tools empower IT teams to orchestrate complex integration workflows, configure business rules, and customize data mappings without the need for extensive coding or scripting. This enables organizations to adapt quickly to changing business requirements and scale their integration capabilities as needed, driving increased agility and efficiency expected in the digital era.


In conclusion, the digital transformation of a supply chain requires a holistic approach to connectivity and delivers value—value that goes beyond traditional EDI and APIs activities and can accommodate multiple systems, various formats, standards, protocols, and preferences to integration to do so. Modern supply chain connectivity means embracing a hybrid integration strategy, fostering interoperability and real-time visibility, leveraging composability and digital configuration tools, then and only then can businesses create a truly interconnected and agile supply chain that enables collaboration, drives innovation, and delivers superior customer experiences in today’s hyper-connected world.
 

Jawad Khan, CEO & Founder, PartnerLinQ Inc.

Jawad Khan is the founder and CEO of PartnerLinQ. As the innovative force behind PartnerLinQ, Jawad guides the company in reshaping digital connectivity and collaborative intelligence within the extensive supply chain sector. His leadership philosophy is deeply rooted in ensuring that supply chains are not merely reactive but strategically positioned to respond to perpetual shifts in business demands swiftly and efficiently.

Time is money in the fast-paced business-to-business (B2B) world. Each day a new B2B business partner isn’t onboarded and transacting with your company means one more day of lost sales and opportunities.  
Clunky, manual onboarding processes also keep new partners from tapping into the amazing new alliance they’ve formed. Instead, they watch from the sidelines as you jump through your onboarding hoops. 

“Fast partner connectivity is a predominant factor for growth in the B2B business landscape,” says Kerry Fogarty, SVP of Client Success at PartnerLinQ. “The faster you can get new partners up and running, the sooner you’ll be able to maximize the return on your partnership investment.” 

Why You Need a Frictionless Onboarding Process  

Complex, manual partner onboarding processes consume too many internal resources. They also delay time-to-market and force new B2B partners to “stand by” while you get your house in order. A smooth onboarding process, on the other hand, reduces administrative burden and lays the foundation for a strong, lasting partnership.  
By investing in tools that automate everything from data migration and training to user provisioning — all wrapped in a white glove service package — organizations can create a frictionless onboarding experience that benefits all parties.  
Consider these wins, achievable across the life of the partnership: 

• Improved efficiency.
• Faster time to market.
• Streamlined connectivity 
• Quicker communications
• Improved data exchange across partners.

Keeping the Data Flowing 

Because PartnerLinQ integrates directly with over 70 popular software applications like Microsoft, Dynamics, SAP, Salesforce, and Magento, all data can flow seamlessly across these platforms, giving companies a single, unified pool of data to work with.  
PartnerLinQ’s tailored service approach takes it one step further by managing communications across trading partners. “We provide a dedicated onboarding service agent who takes the burden off our customers’ in-house staff,” Fogarty explains. “By managing this on their behalf, we can target 100% of their training partners.” 

Throwing the Switches 

For a company that is replacing a legacy integration platform, PartnerLinQ manages the communication, scheduling, configuration, testing, and deployment for all existing and new trading partners.  

“We act on our customers’ behalf, letting their partners know about the platform switch and managing all of the related intricacies that go into it,” Fogarty says. “The day we go live, we throw switches and everything is up and running on our platform across the board. This significantly compresses the time-to-value.” 

Get Frictionless B2B Onboarding 

Streamlining integrations can have a significant impact on a company’s bottom line. Take this example: A transportation company spent about five years attempting to migrate 20% of its customer base to a new platform. What’s more, onboarding each new partner took more than 100 days apiece. 
By switching to PartnerLinQ, the company was able to speed up the integration considerably. It began onboarding anywhere from 50 to 100 trading partners twice a week in a multi-week cycle. The company can implement a new trading partner in five days or less. And it doubled the number of trading partners it works with because it’s no longer bogged down by manual, legacy processes. The company has gained significant market advantage and enjoys stronger business partnerships as a result. 

“As more companies take advantage of these types of seamless integrations, they can respond much more swiftly to market changes and shifting customer demands,” Fogarty says. “They can also keep up with and even get out in front of their competitors.” 

It’s Time To Build a Frictionless Journey 

A fast, seamless B2B partner onboarding experience helps organizations unlock the full potential of their partnerships right from the start. Isn’t it time you replaced your outdated onboarding methods with a frictionless journey that sets everyone up for success? 

To learn more about how PartnerLinQ can improve partner onboarding, reach out to our team today.

Kerry Fogarty, SVP, Client Success

Kerry Fogarty is a Senior IT executive with a proven track record in driving global IT initiatives and business value impact through technology adoption. With his extensive experience as a VP of Enterprise IT and the Office of the CIO in iconic brands like Liz Claiborne, Fifth and Pacific, Kate Spade, and Tapestry. Kerry brings a wealth of deep industry supply chain knowledge and expertise to the PartnerLinQ, Inc., leadership team. In his current role as SVP Client Success, he is dedicated to ensuring customer success through the deployment of PartnerLinQ, the industry’s premier supply-chain platform, complimenting it with toptier consulting and support services.

Today’s business environment demands connected, fast, and efficient business systems. Here’s how to ensure your business doesn’t fall behind.

Efficiency is king in today’s fast-paced business world, where even minor hiccups or roadblocks can impair good business-to-business (B2B) collaboration and put all trading partners at a disadvantage. For this and other reasons, frictionless B2B connectivity has become the game-changer for companies that want to streamline their operations, strengthen their trading partnerships, and stay competitive.

“By leveraging technology and high-touch services, companies can remove the obstacles that slow communication, unlocking a frictionless B2B experience across all trading partners.” 

Unfortunately, legacy and point software solutions that don’t “talk” to each other are a major impediment to frictionless B2B connectivity. Many of these systems have been in place for decades, so they can’t leverage the power of the cloud or integrate easily with other platforms. Companies are forced to use spreadsheets, email, and other manual approaches to fill in the “data gaps” created by these aging systems.

The current labor constraints and rising salaries further exacerbate the problem, as does the brain drain that happens when veteran workers — those familiar with the legacy systems — retire and take their knowledge with them. When a vendor decides to sunset an older system and cut off further upgrades, their customers have a tough decision in front of them: modernize their core operating systems or risk getting left behind.

A Strong Partner in Your Corner

At PartnerLinQ, we understand the conundrum that companies face when the time to upgrade or completely replace age-old systems rears its head. With technology advancing rapidly, and cloud technologies dominating the software landscape, it’s now a matter of “when” (and not “if”) this day will come.

More companies are making this move. FMI reports that the supply chain management market generated nearly $26 billion in revenue in 2023 and is on pace to reach $78.5 billion by 2033. That has smart companies putting more effort, time, and investment into their B2B networks.

By leveraging technology and high-touch services, these companies can remove the obstacles that slow communication, unlocking a frictionless B2B experience across all trading partners. 

Here are four ways PartnerLinQ helps companies do this without having to rip and replace their current business systems:

Lightning-fast launch. We’re all about reducing complexity while also giving companies a wide array of capabilities to choose from. Using prebuilt connectors to many different applications, we can integrate your new system quickly and drive a rapid time-to-value. While there will always be some degree of configuration complexity given an individual customer’s requirements, our goal is to minimize the complexity and challenges often associated with new software implementations.

White glove service. You expect an elevated level of care and attention to detail when you opt for any VIP package, and we feel the same level of service should apply during your software implementation. PartnerLinQ’s white glove offering includes a dedicated onboarding service agent and a full menu of services. We take that burden off our customers’ in-house staff members and let them work on more important projects. We also provide the processes and templates — many of which are built into our platform — that help companies quickly target and connect with 100% of their trading partners quickly and efficiently.

Automation that saves time and money. We’ve worked with a wide range of companies and have experience across most industry sectors. We’ve helped a lot of trading partners create frictionless B2B connectivity and have a comprehensive, in-depth repository of knowledge that we can apply across all engagements. It’s become somewhat of a “rinse and repeat” process that doesn’t involve a ground-up approach for every new customer or trading partner. This level of automation saves our customers time, money, and hassle that would otherwise be spent attempting to build out their B2B partner networks from scratch.  

Post implementation is only the beginning of a partnership. We know the software journey doesn’t end at the go-live stage, and you need solid post-sales support and service to ensure your investment translates into long-term success. Whether you have a robust internal IT team or not, we provide 24/7 support and monitoring to ensure that your B2B connectivity truly stays frictionless. PartnerLinQ uses sophisticated alert notification technologies and automation to keep you informed around the clock while proactively addressing any issue across the span of our relationship.

See Frictionless B2B in Action

With PartnerLinQ’s platform in place, companies quickly begin to see the rewards of truly frictionless B2B connectivity. For example, we recently worked with a company that needed to onboard 700 trading partners within five months. It had been using a legacy platform for five years and still couldn’t migrate about 20% of its customer base. We were up to the challenge and, after onboarding 50 to 100 trading partners across a multi-week cycle, our customer got the frictionless B2B experience it was previously lacking.

Even better: Since implementing PartnerLinQ about two years ago, the company has seamlessly doubled the number of trading partners it works with. This is just one of the many examples of how organizations can use technology and high-touch services to develop and maintain frictionless B2B connectivity in a world that demands it.

To learn more about how PartnerLinQ can streamline connectivity across your B2B enterprise, reach out to our team today.

Kerry Fogarty, SVP, Client Success

Kerry Fogarty is a Senior IT executive with a proven track record in driving global IT initiatives and business value impact through technology adoption. With his extensive experience as a VP of Enterprise IT and the Office of the CIO in iconic brands like Liz Claiborne, Fifth and Pacific, Kate Spade, and Tapestry. Kerry brings a wealth of deep industry supply chain knowledge and expertise to the PartnerLinQ, Inc., leadership team. In his current role as SVP Client Success, he is dedicated to ensuring customer success through the deployment of PartnerLinQ, the industry’s premier supply-chain platform, complimenting it with toptier consulting and support services.

ECommerce is on the rise. Buyers want access to everything from the comfort of their laptop or phone, and customer journeys that span multiple channels have become the new norm. Because of these and other complexities, success in digital commerce depends heavily on a smoothly functioning supply chain.

Successful online retailers are adopting electronic data interchange (EDI) solutions so they can efficiently exchange purchase orders, delivery notes, invoices, and other documents with manufacturers and suppliers in their global supply chain using a single digital platform. EDI systems can enhance your eCommerce experience in several different ways:

Fewer stockouts

Few things annoy your shoppers more than their desired product being out of stock. Even if your suppliers are completely reliable, you might forget to place replenishment orders in time.

Modern EDI solutions that integrate with your ERP and WMS software let you simplify or even automate your replenishment cycle by either notifying you or immediately placing orders with your suppliers whenever stock levels fall below a specified threshold. As a result, your customers are far less likely to experience stock-outs, which helps you maintain high customer satisfaction.

Fewer order fulfillment errors

Incorrectly keyed information can lead to your customers receiving the wrong product. They might be shipped the correct product in the wrong quantity, or if you’ve made a mistake in their delivery information, they won’t receive their order at all! Any of these errors will almost certainly lead to very irate customers and maybe even negative publicity.

EDI minimizes manual entry. You (and your supplier) won’t have to decipher someone’s messy handwriting, hunt down an email that contains order information, or risk making a mistake while rekeying an order from one program into another. More accurate order information reduces the risk of fulfillment delays, angry customers, and loss of business.

Personalization and direct shipping

More and more businesses are harnessing digital supply chain technology and consumer analytics to offer their customers made-to-order products. With real-time vendor communication solutions, retailers can keep their supply chain agile and minimize logistics and inventory costs by sending customized product orders to manufacturers so they can produce and send items directly to your customers.

You don’t need to offer product personalization services to take advantage of EDI in this way. Even if your products are mass-produced, the ability to instantly send delivery information to suppliers is a great way to drastically shorten order fulfillment times, minimize warehousing and inventory spend, and keep your customers happy.

Real-time special order availability

Some online retailers allow their customers to place special orders for items they don’t usually keep in inventory. However, most of these retailers don’t have an up-to-the-minute record of their suppliers’ stock levels or delivery times, which means their online store doesn’t tell their customers how soon they’ll receive these items. More often than not, customers decide to look elsewhere for the item they wanted, and the retailer misses out on a sale.

EDI integration can give your customers real-time information about special order availability and wait times. Even if you don’t keep a particular item in stock, your online store can use EDI to instantly consult your supplier’s records, determine the item’s estimated delivery time, and place an order.

Conclusion

Your customers value timely replenishment, quick and accurate fulfillment, and end-to-end visibility, and digital technologies like EDI that allow you to effortlessly deliver this value represent a real competitive advantage. To learn more about how digital B2B communication drives growth and reduces customer churn, please register for our December 13 webinar, Live Demo of PartnerLinQ for Dynamics 365 FO in Retail.

Price Compression is a financial term where the future prospect of an asset is priced higher than its expected value; the price is ‘compressed’ and includes more ‘value’ than would ordinarily be projected for the time period. In short, it’s a linear equation and this is a math free zone so don’t stop reading.

Market Compression is different from Price Compression. Markets behave in a nonlinear manner in comparison prices. Market Compression is what happens to Jello when exposed to children. When a small child interacts with Jello, they give it a good squeeze, upon which Jello escapes the child’s grasp. It’s nonlinear and unpredictable, just like Jello, and we remain math-free, mission accomplished.

We’ve all seen extreme examples of price compression in our own neighborhoods in the recent housing market where housing prices have exceeded expectations, growing more rapidly than could have been anticipated. We have also seen price compression in historically significant cycles of rapid change such as the mortgage bubble or the ‘dotcom’ era.

In 2023, the transportation industry saw several bankruptcies among carriers, indicating financial instability and possibly overcapacity issues, the result of which is a leading cause of market compression. These developments suggest a landscape filled with capacity issues, financial challenges, even integrity issues within the transportation industry as 2023 came to a close, likely influencing all manner of business strategies moving forward.

While all markets grow and shrink, service markets like transportation react differently under compression. What makes market compression unsettling is an increase in rate of entrants and dropouts within a relatively short period creating yet more unpredictability and that’s where we find ourselves today in an unsettling period that began with Yellow on August 6, 2023.

Thoughts on Yellow Corporation Story

Yellow Corporation and certain of its affiliates and partners filed voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 and it wasn’t that no one saw it coming. Yellow Freight’s issues were widely reported for months, the company has had increasing challenges for years, even restructuring twice in the past two decades. Yellow Freight faced challenges and controversies over the years from labor disputes to financial struggles to operational and performance issues. What few saw was Yellow Freight’s complete exit once it had become clear the bailouts were not going to help the then #3 LTL Carrier in North America.

While Yellow Freight’s filing included several subsidiaries, Yellow Freight, USF Holland, and despite Roadway Express ceasing operations in 2009 Roadway was still listed as one of the affiliates in the filing. What does all this mean? It means that not only will clients continue to realign their freight relationships, but freight service providers will similarly continue to realign freight relationships for the foreseeable future. Companies like General Motors, Ford and Stellantis alongside companies like Walmart and Home Depot will all be scrambling for capacity among the top 100 LTL Carriers all of whom just moved closer to #1.

Scrambling for Capacity

Scrambling for Capacity in 2024 will extend well beyond Q1 and into Q2 for shippers and markets where once again we expect to find ourselves face-to-face with yet another round of supply chain disruption. What’s unique about Market Compression is at the same time there are shippers shopping capacity the market appears to have excess capacity evidenced by dropping rates.

Unlike some market dynamics like cost and demand that tend to have a linear relationship, market compression is non-linear. Reactions to these market circumstances encourage a three-dimensional compression such that the outward expression of the market is often unpredictable and where we would expect new leaders to emerge, and some to exit. This all takes time, and it’s beginning to take place.

Food for Thought

"What makes market compression so interesting is the simultaneous impact on shippers and markets. Reaction by shippers and markets to market compression is not universal by any means, in fact rampant unpredictability seems to be the norm."

What makes market compression so interesting is the simultaneous impact on shippers and markets. Reaction by shippers and markets to market compression is not universal by any means, in fact rampant unpredictability seems to be the norm. Some of reactions expressed by both shipper and carrier companies have been wildly unpredictable over the past 6-month period, again beginning August 6th.

Quiet Logistics, for example, has gotten very quiet indeed. A third-party logistics company headquartered in Massachusetts, Quiet Logistics specializes in order fulfillment and returns for e-commerce retailers that was acquired by American Eagle. A consolidation that sounded like a really good idea, American Eagle combined the classic ‘shipper’ with a ‘third party’ operation.

One could tender an expectation was built on cost savings for American Eagle and operating costs for Quiet. The company expanded rather quickly through several ‘quiet’ acquisitions, then “pulled back” quietly after missing financial targets. They replaced their CEO and were last reported to be “ramping down investment.” Quiet Logistics has gotten very quiet indeed.

Visiting their website, this time with a bit more scrutiny, I noticed that their web presence is based on the small screen which seems to point to an incomplete technology investment and could just as easily be a purposeful foray and specifically intended to target a younger entrepreneurial audience. Whether the small screen approach is the result of ‘built-on’ legacy technologies from several mergers and acquisitions or entirely new technology designed from the ground up is not known to outsiders and we’ll know more soon enough as the full impact of market compression comes to bear.

Moves by UPS and Ryder

Moving from the very small to the very large, has anyone else noticed the frequency and number of UPS store ads lately? Is this a predictable reaction of the behemoth UPS to the market compression; a targeted campaign aiming at small-scale shippers just to gauge the market or how smaller shippers are reacting to market compressions of their own, only time will tell.

Ryder in the meantime has continued a path of acquisitions, though not as quiet as Massachusetts’s Quiet Logistics. The Ryder acquisition of Cardinal is expected to result in a complete integration of Cardinal operations including facilities into Ryder; according to Ryder, “strengthening Ryder’s position as a leading customized dedicated contract carrier in North America” Only time will tell if Ryder management has the technology where-with-all in their Silicon Valley-Based Technology Lab which opened less than a year after Ryder acquired the logistics technology start-up Baton. Technology start-ups are risky at best, having a technology start-up in transportation tech perhaps, more so.

What to look for

I suspect larger entities will begin to double down on their previous gambles in the small-scale sector by defining and completing deeper acquisitions to complete a folio that the leaders of these acquisition-based growth companies expect will propel them into the next century. I expect that many more combined companies to struggle with integration challenges as they find their current stable of products and services challenged beyond their capacity which will be unable to keep up or grow through acquisitions of their own.

I suspect that we’ll see more from shippers like UPS and Ryder for that matter by the time the Super Bowl and post-Super Bowl advertising has eclipsed in April. Ironic isn’t it, that post-Super Bowl advertising is expected to eclipse at about the same time shippers and markets both scrambling for capacity today are expected to be exiting the darkness of the period and entering the light, shine on shippers, shine on carriers, more to come.

Maybe next time we’ll talk about how PartnerLinQ expects to help shippers and carriers overcome issues in this market where Market Compression is expected to reign large for at least the next several months if not years. e.g., how to ensure business relationships are sustained and remain connected during cycles of market compression through technology – just a few thoughts. If you have some thoughts of your own let us know, we’d love to talk about it.

Thomas Smith, Director Supply Chain Consulting, PartnerLinQ Inc.

Thomas A. (Tom) Smith is a seasoned leader in the EDI Industry and the Director of Supply Chain Consulting at PartnerLinQ. A professional services traceability, integration, & engineering manager, Tom’s real-world experience extends beyond the world’s most recognized brands and into supply chains everywhere. Working directly with industry leaders and organizations, Tom’s experience developing and delivering business processes and transaction standards across more than 26 industries has impacted brands, businesses, clients, customers, and our team member across the globe.