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.

We all agree to the fact that in today’s fast-paced, interconnected business environment, seamless data exchange is critical to staying competitive. For organizations who handle vast amounts of transactions, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) has been an important method for automating communications between business partners. It is instrumental in reducing errors, accelerating transaction time, and eliminating manual processes. This, in turn, makes it indispensable for industries.

Having said that, not all EDI solutions are created equal. EDI Value-Added Networks (VANs) play an important role in ensuring that these electronic documents are securely transmitted between businesses.

In this blog, we’ll look at the leading EDI VAN providers, with a special focus on why PartnerLinQ has emerged as a market leader in EDI services.

Understanding EDI VAN providers

Even before we dive into why PartnerLinQ is a market leader, it’s essential to understand what EDI VAN providers do. It is a centralized hub that allows organizations to exchange EDI documents with multiple trading partners. Services such as document routing, data validation, and compliance monitoring are offered by VAN providers. In this way, it makes sure that the business-critical data flows smoothly, and accurately across different organizations.

Some of the leading EDI VAN providers in the market include:

IBM Sterling B2B Collaboration: IBM Sterling has been a top choice for large enterprises needing EDI solutions as it is known for its security and compliance.

OpenText Trading Grid: OpenText is a cloud-based B2B integration platform that provides global trading partner connectivity.

TrueCommerce: It offers a scalable solution for small-to-mid-sized businesses, with easy-to-use EDI tools.

Why PartnerLinQ leads the EDI VAN market?

Even though all the above players offer strong services, PartnerLinQ has emerged as a leading player by solving key challenges faced by business when managing EDI systems.

Here is why PartnerLinQ has emerged as one of the leaders when it comes to leading the EDI VAN market.

1. Comprehensive EDI solutions for modern businesses

The biggest USP of PartnerLinQ is that it offers a cutting-edge platform that integrates traditional EDI with modern data exchange solutions. This feature of PartnerLinQ makes it the organization of choice for companies that need both legacy support and forward-looking capabilities.

PartnerLinQ, unlike other VAN providers, incorporates APIs and real-time data exchange, enabling businesses to meet the needs of modern supply chains.

PartnerLinQ ensures businesses can operate efficiently and remain agile, even in the face of shifting market demands.

2. Cloud-native, scalable architecture

Traditional EDI VANs rely on on-premises infrastructure. However, as PartnerLinQ is built on a cloud-native architecture, it not only reduces the need for costly hardware and complex maintenance, but it also makes it scalable. PartnerLinQ ensures that updates are rolled out continuously, without disrupting daily operations.

3. Real-time visibility and tracking

Lack of visibility into data flows is one of the biggest challenges that businesses face when using EDI. Even now, a lot of VAN solutions use outdated batch processing. It has a tendency of leaving businesses in the dark about transaction statuses.

With PartnerLinQ’s real-time visibility and tracking features, businesses can monitor document exchanges in real time. This, in turn, empowers decision-makers to respond proactively to issues, preventing delays.

4. End-to-end supply chain connectivity

EDI systems are often siloed. However, PartnerLinQ integrates EDI with other supply chain management tools, ensuring connectivity across the entire supply chain. With PartnerLinQ, businesses can connect with suppliers, distributors, and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) on a single platform.

Conclusion: Why PartnerLinQ is a market leader

In today’s business world, where changing market conditions and customer demands are important, PartnerLinQ stands out as a next-generation EDI VAN provider. With its cloud-native architecture, and analytics, PartnerLinQ provides businesses with a comprehensive solution.

If you're looking to enhance supply chain operations, PartnerLinQ is your EDI provider of choice.

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.

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.

Modern platforms of the future are expected to create provisions for seamless and experiential integration of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

As the supply chain ecosystems are experiencing significant impact – new patterns of needs are emerging around the greater agility in reconfiguring value chains, ability to anticipate disruptions in logistics and demand fluctuations in time, and the need for heightened visibility to support the day operational decision making. Such capabilities can equip companies to promptly respond to changing market conditions, proactively manage supply chain disruptions risks and discover and avail the new emerging opportunities in time.

“Businesses must consider breaking free from the limitations of outdated technologies and boldly step into a future defined by innovation.”

In the wake of pandemic, uncertainties and disruptions have become the new normal. Businesses are grappling with the need to continually adapt to shifting priorities which are influenced by ongoing geopolitical and economic volatility. There is stark realization that businesses cannot solve the challenges of today and tomorrow by continuing to limit themselves with technologies of the past. This situation has underscored the importance of re-imagining transformative digital information technology delivered through innovative platforms like never before.

As a result, the role of the new generation of enterprise platforms is steadily increasing. With remote work now widely adopted as the standard across the global workforce, Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms serve as a centralized and accessible hub for supply chain management. Teams can collaborate seamlessly, access critical information remotely, and maintain operational efficiency regardless of physical location. This flexibility is crucial for businesses looking to build resilience in their supply chains and navigate the complexities of the post-COVID landscape.

The dynamic nature of innovative SaaS platforms ensures that businesses can quickly adapt to evolving customer demands, market trends, and regulatory changes. Whether it’s optimizing inventory levels, predicting demand fluctuations, or enhancing digital communication with buyers, suppliers and distributors, these platforms enable a holistic approach to agile supply chain management. The ability for such platforms to provide dynamic and agile access to information, coupled with advanced analytics and collaborative features, positions them as crucial enablers of success.

Supply chains that leverage these platforms can look forward to gaining a competitive edge by fostering resilience, adaptability, and enabling timely access to insights into their supply chain operations, ultimately improving their overall business outcomes in a rapidly changing business landscape.

Instead of behaving as the isolated capability tower within the enterprise technology landscape, modern platforms of future are expected to the create provision for seamless and experiential integration of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT) in SaaS platforms adding another layer of sophistication.

“We firmly believe that technology should serve as both an enabler and a game-changer, empowering businesses to operate, monitor, and act with unprecedented autonomy and agility.”

These technologies enable predictive analytics, proactive issue resolution, and the automation of routine tasks, further streamlining supply chain processes and enhancing overall efficiency.

However, in the realm of mergers and acquisitions within enterprise technologies, it’s common to witness platforms acquiring point solutions. While this expansion on paper promises enhanced features and functionalities and higher valuation multiples, these solutions often fall short when disparate technologies are patched together, leaving no assurance of seamless performance or positive customer experience.

At PartnerLinQ, we stand apart from this trend. Rooted in a tradition of solution engineering and professional consultancy in supply chain best practices, our foundation is built on decades of expertise and hands-on experience. Originally conceived by Visionet Systems, PartnerLinQ emerged as a cloud SaaS solution aimed at addressing the challenges of EDI and API supply chain connectivity. Over time, the platform has evolved to prioritize visibility enhancement and decision intelligence capabilities, catering to the evolving needs of the industry.

The resounding success of our platform has led to the establishment of PartnerLinQ as an independent entity in October 2023, extending its solutions beyond the clientele and consultancy practices of Visionet Systems. This unique blend of heritage and independence defines our approach, ensuring that PartnerLinQ continues to deliver cutting-edge solutions that drive transformative change in the supply chain landscape.

The acknowledgement of PartnerLinQ as a “Major Player” in the IDC MarketScape – Worldwide Multi-Enterprise Supply Chain Commerce Network 2023 Vendor Assessment by the International Data Corporation (IDC) represents a major milestone for our company. Playing a pivotal role in helping businesses assess and analyze the capabilities of supply chain management in this complex space, IDC’s recognition serves as a testament to our technological expertise, innovative approach, and forward-thinking vision, solidifying our position as a leading player in the industry.

At PartnerLinQ, we’ve conceived, engineered, and launched a groundbreaking platform built from the ground up. With a keen focus on the principles of organic growth and innovation, we firmly believe that technology should serve as both an enabler and a game-changer, empowering businesses to operate, monitor, and act with unprecedented autonomy and agility through seamless digitalization. As we strive to achieve continued success and sustainable value generation for our customers and prospects within the industry, the impact of analyst recognition becomes multifaceted, touching various aspects of our business trajectory. Moving forward, the PartnerLinQ team remains committed to actively engaging with IDC’s esteemed analyst team and wider analyst community, by integrating their innovative and forward-thinking ideas alongside the innovation we provide through the voice of our customers.
 

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.

In recent years, organizations have faced a series of disruptions, impacting their operational continuity, resulting in lost sales, reduced revenues, and damage to brand reputation. This has heightened the importance for supply chain leaders to adeptly manage inherent risks by leveraging capabilities for accurate decision-making and utilizing data for improved planning.

The looming threats of shifting trade alliances, geopolitical conflicts, climate change effects on global logistics networks, and ongoing labor unrest weigh heavily on executive leaders’ minds. To tackle future uncertainties, logistics leaders are prioritizing resilient operations and flexible transportation solutions, aligning with diverse procurement strategies and meeting the demands of increasingly discerning customers.

According to IDC’s Global Supply Chain Survey 2023, business leaders, especially in transportation and logistics, prioritize improved visibility, agility, and increased collaboration. The impact of disruptions has prompted a notable focus on deploying advanced analytics to navigate changing conditions effectively.

Logistics service providers must also respond effectively to frequent and significant changes, while also balancing the push for resilient operations with the need to reduce and control costs. Economic conditions are driving concerns about higher and out-of-control costs, leading logistics teams to seek a competitive edge through efficiency gains.

Technological priorities for advancing supply chain digital maturity include artificial intelligence/machine learning, cloud platforms, and visibility platforms. Clean, timely visibility data is foundational for cultivating intelligence, enabling logistics providers to make informed, timely decisions and engage in scenario planning to drive optimal actions.

Continuous refinement of models to incorporate new data sources is also crucial for better business outcomes. Top priorities for logistics service providers include optimizing the supply chain to reduce costs and improving visibility across the end-to-end supply chain. Challenges such as generating efficiencies, facilitating better collaboration, and advancing sustainability drive the need for data-driven insights.

As organizations address inherent risks in global supply chains in 2024, the need for flexible transportation services with advanced intelligence becomes evermore crucial. Timely, informed, and consistent decision-making across complex logistics networks requires end-to-end visibility and collaboration. Logistics service providers play a critical role in achieving supply chain resilience, and platforms like PartnerLinQ enable them to deliver value, streamline operations, and contribute to long-term partnerships with customers. In a world where collaboration is essential, interconnected systems that provide insights from a single source of truth become highly valuable, paving the way for deeply integrated and resilient transportation operations aligned with customer supply chain strategies.

Learn more about PartnerLinQ and the ways of solving the supply chain challenges for both Transportation and Logistics Providers in our new IDC Spotlight Whitepaper.

Why do Most EDI Practices Struggle to Onboard New Trading Partners 

Clearly one of the biggest challenges businesses have with successfully executing an EDI integration strategy is the onboarding of new trading partners. This challenge appears regardless of network or affiliation and whether the solution is an everything-to-everyone VAN or a simple service.  

The fact is that most Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) solutions including those recommended by a partner, an ERP provider, or a marketplace are still onboarding trading partners the same way as they’ve been doing for years; and if nothing changes in the practice, then nothing changes in the process and the same issues persist. 

Why is that? 

Many initiate the painful and often disappointing cycle of partner onboarding with their legacy product driven by internal needs. EDI service providers, in many instances, possess multiple legacy products and a pressing need to market an updated product or service subscription. The initial internal conflict within the service organization makes these providers slow to respond to requests for new trading partner requests  

Additionally, they are often less inclined to deviate from established procedures, hindering much-needed changes to their practices. It is worth noting that at this stage, the practice is inundated with new and inexperienced resources. This poses challenges in adapting to evolving demands and adopting innovative approaches within the dynamic landscape of EDI.  

Moreover, change is one of those necessary ingredients for survival in an ever-changing world, which includes newer ways of doing things even with legacy products. Much like fashion, change never goes out of style, and without integrating change into legacy or even antiquated platforms or practices, businesses simply cannot respond to modern EDI integration requirements that are needed in the market today. 

Much of this change starts with the ongoing challenge of partner onboarding. The complexity of onboarding new trading partners begins with the EDI solution and how that solution has enabled change from the point where the solution team first encounters that next trading partner. Then there is the issue that companies leveraging EDI with their business partners cause based on a reluctance to provide precise directions by way of EDI specification documentation or samples in a sort of public forum.  

Maybe companies do not know what their trading partner profile looks like or how to demonstrate it or just maybe they have never gotten around to producing or updating their specification document. In any case, keeping important EDI information behind a firewall and away from public view until the point where the opportunity to connect has arrived is certainly counterintuitive to making business work. Whatever happened to giving a partner a heads up? 

Don’t Make Enabling Your Partner Hard: Two Recent War Stories

Here are two recent customer examples that demonstrate how businesses are making it harder than it should be; the first example is an internationally recognized mid-market meal-kit foodservice provider and the second, two well-known fashion and apparel dynasties.  

Pay Attention to Details  

Let us begin with the first with one, an internationally known publicly traded mid-sized foodservice provider. In this example the food service provider’s business partner contacted PartnerLinQ asking how they could connect with them via EDI. As experts in the space, we naturally understood both the transactions and the steps needed to enable the EDI connection, so we set out on the path outlined by our customer’s business partner, which according to their web site, was to contact their EDI solution provider via a posted email address. So, we did just that.  

Four weeks and dozens of emails later PartnerLinQ escalated the latency to our request to the business partner’s sales team, requesting a personal contact to get the ball rolling. During this process we also had to wait for the specification and sample documents to be forwarded to us to confirm, since there were no postings or even publicly displayed documents of any sort, not even an email address. Due to this oversight both our customer, the foodservice provider, and their business partner would not gain any benefit from using EDI for yet another month, further delaying any ROI that could be derived. 

Making it Easier to do Business 

The second example is a well-known German shoe manufacturer, who produces and sells a particular brand of sandals and custom casual shoes known the world over. The problem arose when their business partner, a global footwear company that is home to a diverse portfolio of loved and admired brands and ferocious about fit, encountered an unexpected EDI connection issue more than a year after they switched their EDI systems to a new provider. 

The business partner’s new EDI solution provider in this case was reluctant to fix the problem, even to the point of near refusal in remediating the connection issue. The reason provided was that the remedy fell outside of the classic remediation process. This same EDI solution provider doubled down on their refusal to fix the problem even after when one of the parties introduced options into conversation in an attempt to resolve the issue.  

This impacts my business…how do we fix it? 

While these examples do not necessarily represent how everyone approaches EDI onboarding, best practice stipulates that your team is always responsive to email even when text is not received as intended.  

After all, a global understanding of a ‘global standard’ is rather uncommon knowledge and EDI specifications no matter how precise they come are not proprietary. Many of the largest retailers and suppliers understand both, and make it their business to get connected, and in terms of specifications, make this information public. 

The second part of these stories and the reason for writing this blog post is to help you get over, under and around such obstacles. Keeping your eye on the goal is critical and recognizing obstacles so they can be avoided in the future comes in a close second.  

Things to Consider in selecting a business partner or EDI solution provider  

As you look into your EDI strategy for 2024, below is a list of those obstacles and what you can do to avoid them.  

1. When looking to engage with a new business partner, look at their EDI profile and where they keep their EDI specifications. If these instructions are not clear or you cannot even find them, ask the business partner for their EDI profile or EDI specifications before you start down the engagement path. For a great example of what a good EDI profile looks at Burlington or Macy’s profiles. Bottomline, if a prospective partner is giving you a hard time or is making it difficult to even get this information, you might want to consider putting another partner ahead of them. 
2. When dealing with a business partner whose point of contact is a solution provider causing delays rather than expediting integration, it is advisable to document the incident and the provider involved. This proactive measure is essential not only to address the immediate setback but also to safeguard against selecting them as your EDI solution. By doing so, you can effectively sidestep a significant obstacle on your journey toward achieving your goal. 
3. When you are talking to a new EDI solution provider, the first question they may ask you will be a good indication of what they do. So, if they ask about your volume and not your transactions or where you find issues, it is a good sign that they need to sell a subscription and are not as interested in solving your connectivity issues, or helping you grow your EDI practice as you might think. 
4. When engaging with an EDI solution provider, inquire about their methods for comprehending the unique operations of each trading partner. If their predominant responses revolve around ‘network’ or ‘history,’ it often signifies a dependence on legacy systems rather than fostering a dynamic culture of continuous improvement. For your EDI practice, which demands meticulous attention to detail at this stage of maturity, such a commitment to embracing change becomes crucial. 

Committed to Making it Easy  

These war stories represent just a glimpse into the myriad experiences we have encountered in our journey, each contributing to our ability to diagnose problems effectively and apply best practices. At PartnerLinQ, we are dedicated to simplifying complexities.  

We have been studying our EDI customers and competitors and recognize that digital agility between business partners is what most Multi Enterprise Collaboration Network customers want. Removing friction caused by multiple formats and connections is where we began. Beyond EDI, we’ve added an AS2 solution, an API Layer for Commerce Channel connections and included the ability to connect with a broad ecosystem of Commerce Platforms, Marketplaces, B2B Portals, Social Channels, Credit Cards, and Shipping Solutions  
We are committed to making it easy and if you would like to explore your options with a PartnerLinQ Expert, we are happy to help and there is no obligation. Contact us today!