According to a survey conducted by JBF Consulting in collaboration with Adelante SCM, only half of the respondents express satisfaction with their transportation management system (TMS), with just 8% reporting being “very satisfied.” Brad Forester, CEO at JBF Consulting, highlights the challenges of achieving TMS satisfaction, attributing it to integration issues and unmet expectations.

Despite high anticipation, 72% of users feel neutral about the AI advancements in TMS, indicating a significant disparity between expectations and actual outcomes. Adrian Gonzalez of Adelante SCM emphasizes the importance of conducting thorough due diligence before implementing a TMS, suggesting that understanding current processes and defining desired future states are crucial steps. He also suggests creating a “TMS satisfaction” metric to measure and quantify satisfaction with the solution.

Key findings from the survey include the importance of effective integration planning during the design phase to prevent functionality issues, the significant impact of vendor support on user satisfaction, and the absence of formal success metrics, indicating an opportunity to establish new standards for solution satisfaction.

Mike Mulqueen, executive principal of Strategy & Innovation at JBF Consulting, stresses that the effectiveness of a TMS solution extends beyond technology to addressing critical business needs through system and process alignment.

Regarding AI and machine learning, while advancements have been made, deliverables have not met expectations. Further research is needed to understand why, with potential reasons including users’ incomplete understanding of AI capabilities or overselling by vendors.