One item, one source
If the same item sits in two places, one of them is wrong — you just do not know which yet.
Digitalization
Digitalization in logistics
Digitalization should simplify processes, stabilize interfaces, and specifically reduce manual work.
Context
Digitalization is organizational work
Many digitalization projects fail not on technology but on missing process logic. That's why LOG|CONS deliberately pairs technical delivery with operational reality and clear ownership.
Count the media breaks
Every point where someone transfers something from one screen to another is a candidate. The list is shorter than feared.
The intake first
What arrives structured never has to be entered again. What arrives as a PDF is retyped every time.
Sequence · about 40 seconds
Where an order gets stuck today — and why
The order arrives by email — as a PDF attachment, sometimes in the body text.
Runs automatically · can be paused at any time
Sourced figures
What can be publicly verified
Three figures from published sources — none from our own operations.
70 %
of digitalisation projects fail to reach their goals, or reach them only partly. The figure has been reported in this order of magnitude for years.
McKinsey, BCG — reported consistently on several occasions
eFTI
The EU eFTI Regulation obliges authorities to accept electronically transmitted transport information. Paper remains possible — but is no longer the precondition.
Regulation (EU) 2020/1056
e-CMR
Since the 2008 Additional Protocol to the CMR Convention, the electronic consignment note has been possible under international law; the number of contracting states keeps growing.
e-CMR Additional Protocol, UNECE
In detail
Digitalisation rarely fails because of technology
The finding almost every business shares
Every single tool works. What does not work are the transitions between them.
- One item gets entered twice.
- A status is filled in afterwards instead of arising.
- An approval runs through a query nobody can search for.
These points do not cost minutes but hours — and appear in no analysis.
Why seven out of ten projects miss their goal
The software was not the problem; the assumption that software replaces a process was.
A process that works by word of mouth does not get better with a system, it gets slower — because now both have to be maintained. Digitalise without first deciding which route is binding and you double the work.
What comes first
- Fix the route that counts: One item, one source. If it sits in two places, one of them is wrong.
- Count media breaks, do not estimate them: The list is shorter than feared.
- The intake first: What arrives structured never has to be entered again.
- Then the exception: Only once the normal case runs without intervention.
What the legislator will force anyway
The paper route stays permitted but loses its advantage: e-CMR has been possible under international law since 2008, and the eFTI Regulation obliges authorities to accept transport data submitted electronically.
Frequently asked questions
Digitalisation in freight forwarding
Where do you start on a small budget?
With the intake. Orders that arrive structured never have to be entered again — the best ratio of effect to effort. After that: define for each item which system holds the truth.
Do we need a new TMS?
Rarely. Usually the interfaces are missing, not the software — and unused functions are already there. A system change ties up months and does not solve the process questions.
How long does something like this take?
The first visible benefit belongs in the first weeks. Projects whose effect lies beyond six months lose the support of the people meant to work with them along the way.
What is a media break?
Every point where a person reads something off and types it in somewhere else: the order from the PDF, the status from the phone call, the quantity from the delivery note. Every break creates a second version of the same truth.
Digitalisation or automation?
Digitalisation means the data is machine-readable. Automation means something happens without intervention. The first is the precondition for the second — and usually the reason the second fails.
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