Answered step by step
Verified Expert Solution
Link Copied!

Question

1 Approved Answer

Gnosis is an international freight software company, based in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Their specialty is shipping visibility, which enables firms to determine where their

Gnosis is an international freight software company, based in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Their specialty is shipping "visibility," which enables firms to determine where their shipping containers are at any given time. Even large firms have trouble locating their shipments, so the Gnosis software can be quite helpful to shippers of all sizes. They were responsive to user needs, with most of their product features having their origin in customer requests. Gnosis had one important goal: to build an ecosystem that enabled supply chain partners to work together.1 But, they knew that the process of integrating supply chains is quite challenging. The shipping containers were quite large, at 20 or 40 feet long, so it might seem unexpected that they could become lost. However, there are about 17 million shipping containers being transported worldwide, and one container ship can contain over 24,000.2 These containers might travel between two or three destinations in the US, and then back to China for reloading. The complex routes taken to move the merchandise to stores make it difficult to predict when they would arrive and when the container would again be empty and ready to make another trip. The lack of that information makes it difficult for the parties to plan for cooperating with their own supply chain partners. Spreadsheets and emails were too hard to organize and manage. The vision for an ecosystem was ambitious and would change the nature of their previous products. More importantly, it would change how they developed software. Writing code took weeks and months, and once they completed the code, the customer's specifications changed due to an inability to differentiate features they wanted from those they needed. Those errors caused long delays in developing apps. Software to enable tracking can be purchased, but often some important features are left out. Gnosis wanted to be responsive to user needs and a purchased solution was not available to address those needs. A new approach, using "enterprise flexible software," enabled "low-code" development of app features by experts in the shipping domain, rather than relying on programmers' expertise when they might misunderstand what is important for shippers. Gnosis started by designing and creating the first level of transformation with their basic "Track and Trace." Using a unique tracking number (Master Bill of Lading, or MBL), a real-time report could reveal where all a customer's containers were, as well as arrival/departure times and dates in transit. Estimates of departure and arrival times were also provided. The software allowed a wide variety of charts and graphs, as well as maps, displayed on a desktop or mobile device. The next iteration introduced an ability to look into the container, allowing all parties to see detail down to the purchase order. Other levels permitted all interactions to be traced for a purchase order, and finally, analytics and machine learning were used to optimize how drivers were assigned to routes under due date constraints. As conditions changed, the assignments were updated dynamically. Question: Do you think the features described in the case would be more important during the challenging height of the COVID-19 pandemic or for more "normal" times? For instance, could the system be more helpful for a car manufacturer with a large lot full of 99% assembled SUVs waiting for a computer chip, or for a car manufacturer with an equilibrium between supply and demand

Step by Step Solution

There are 3 Steps involved in it

Step: 1

blur-text-image

Get Instant Access to Expert-Tailored Solutions

See step-by-step solutions with expert insights and AI powered tools for academic success

Step: 2

blur-text-image_2

Step: 3

blur-text-image_3

Ace Your Homework with AI

Get the answers you need in no time with our AI-driven, step-by-step assistance

Get Started

Recommended Textbook for

Modern Advanced Accounting In Canada

Authors: Murray Hilton

6th Edition

0070001537, 978-0070001534

More Books

Students also viewed these Accounting questions

Question

=+how the customer arrived at their site.

Answered: 1 week ago

Question

6. What information processes operate in communication situations?

Answered: 1 week ago

Question

3. How can we use information and communication to generate trust?

Answered: 1 week ago