Transportation Contract Management Report Finding: Gaining Visibility and Control Over Spend

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - July 8, 2010) -  In a newly released report, Transportation Contract Management: Gaining Visibility and Control Over Spend, Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), surveyed over 200 companies and found that transportation contract management is growing in both importance and scale as more companies (about 60%) have expanded or have plans to expand the global transportation spend they have under contract. In response to this trend, there is an increased interest in outsourcing models, leveraging third party providers, to centralize, integrate, and expand contractual freight spend.

"Although rising freight costs and market volatility are the top two external pressures ranked by transportation executives, firms are also placing internal pressure on logistics executives to control transportation spend," explained Bob Heaney, Senior Analyst of Supply Chain Management. "With such cost-containment pressures, our findings show that the greatest opportunity for savings lies in the fundamentals: understanding the shipping profile of your company, analyzing carrier spending on a central visibility platform, and aligning global contracts and their carrier mix at a global level."

The report focuses on companies that have looked beyond their internal capabilities and have successfully partnered with a third party Logistics Service Provider (LSP) to enhance their processes. The research findings and case studies presented in this Analyst Insight underscore the value and growing relevance that third party logistics service providers can play in expanding contractual spend by enhancing visibility to global spend data through integrating and automating the selection and control of transportation under contract.

This report is designed to provide guidance on effective transportation contract management in light of a heavily dynamic transportation environment.

A complimentary copy of this report is made available in part by the following underwriters: NPI, and Trax Technologies. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, please visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410182&cid=6708&camp=2

Visit Research.Aberdeen.com for additional access to complimentary reports.

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company

http://www.aberdeen.com/

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