10 IT Buzzwords and their practical application for logistics service providers and logistics professionals, as presented at Air Cargo 2018.

1. Smarter Data Integration
Supply Chain Connectivity Platform

2. #1: AI
What is this?
Computers that can use information to make decisions.
Deal With This
yesterday
soon
later
Reality Check
The hype is real. AI will probably transform almost every business
process.
The science is currently really hard, expensive, and relatively
inaccessible. The cost will come down over time.
Start with Big Data
Your software vendors should at least be able to articulate their AI
strategy. Consider building relationships with AI specific vendors.

3. #2: Big Data
What is this?
Saving every bit of data that your company produces or collects
and then using it to learn stuff.
Deal With This
yesterday
soon
later
Reality Check
Disks used to be really expensive, so we rolled up data and threw
some of it away. That’s not true anymore.
Don’t throw away anything, ever (with a few caveats). You don’t
know how you’ll use that info in the future for Machine Learning &
Big Data.
Your company should at least be collecting data at the lowest
possible level of detail. Every carton scan, flight, PO, etc. You
should also be thinking of how to use that info to create new value.

4. #3: Machine Learning
What is this?
A key component to Artificial Intelligence.
Give a computer a lot of flight history data and it can guess
whether the next flight will be on time.
Deal With This
yesterday
soon
later
Reality Check
If you have smart IT people, they can start experimenting with “ML”
models. This is the precursor to AI.
At a minimum, as you collect Big Data you should start articulating
what business questions you’d like answers to.
Your software vendors should be getting comfortable with talking
about how they’ll use ML in their future applications.

5. #4: APIs
What is this?
The ability for computers to talk to each other in real time.
No more “nightly accounting upload”
Deal With This
yesterday
soon
later
Reality Check
APIs are going to accelerate the speed of business. Your
customers may not be asking you to exchange data in real time yet,
but they will.
This isn’t about making your existing EDI “faster” it’s about
rethinking the way you exchange information at a much more
granular level. Your customers will see inside your business in real
time. Make sure your business processes are ready for
transparency.

6. #5: Augmented Reality
What is this?
The ability to overlay images on the real world.
Remember Google Glasses? They’re coming back for industrial
use.
Deal With This
yesterday
soon
later
Reality Check
If you physically handle goods, this has the opportunity to increase
accuracy and speed where humans are still involved.
Think about a pick system where the user’s visor highlights the
right item and can tell them if they pick up the wrong thing, and
works in a non-structured environment like a CFS.
Avisor that knows the address and guides the driver to the right
package in the truck.

7. #6: Quantum Computing
What is this?
Computers that are 100 million times faster than a modern server.
Deal With This
yesterday
soon
later
Reality Check
No company in logistics should be worried about this for a very
long time.
This is pure R&D at this point.
Bonus: If you really want to mess with your CIO, go back to the office
and ask what her quantum computing strategy is. Follow that with,
“The guy at the conference said…”

8. #7: Microservices
What is this?
A way of designing systems where we develop lots of little
programs that work together instead of one huge “monolith.”
Deal With This
yesterday
soon
later
Reality Check
Microservice architectures have the potential to make your IT
development faster, more flexible and more resilient. This is a big
part of how companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Google build
things so fast at scale.
Your IT department should be aware of this architecture and
should put some thought into whether it’s right for your company.
Warning: Microservices are about making organizational change in
how you build applications. The people part is hard.

9. #8: Serverless
What is this?
The “cloud” on steroids. Your IT team no longer manages any
servers and your code runs directly on cloud providers (Amazon /
Microsoft / Google / IBM).
Rent computing capacity by the millisecond.
Deal With This
yesterday
soon
later
Reality Check
This comes after microservices and has the potential to drastically
reduce IT overhead costs and improve security.
Most companies aren’t quite ready for this, but as you build new
things, your IT department should be experimenting here.

10. #9: Internet of Things (IOT)
What is this?
Devices connected to the internet.
Nest thermostat, container GPS tracking, your BMW
Deal With This
yesterday
soon
later
Reality Check
If your involved in physical handling of goods, you should have a
strategy for instrumenting everything and feeding that into Big Data
to eventually empower AI.
If you are not physically handling goods, you should be thinking
about creating APIs to consume and leverage IOT data from your
trading partners.

11. #10: Blockchain
What is this?
A way for companies to record and share information that is
“fraud-proof”.
Deal With This
yesterday
soon
later
Reality Check
It’s the wild west. Unless you want to be on the bleeding edge, let
this technology evolve a bit. There will be a lot of money spent on
solutions that don’t work before we land on industry standards.
It has some huge potential implications in areas like Customs
Clearance, Proof of Delivery, Letters of Credit, and Ethical Sourcing
/ Compliance.

12. Visit us at http://chain.io