A Third-Party Logistics (3PL) company provides bundled logistics services such as transportation, warehousing, cross-docking, inventory management, packaging, and freight forwarding. As various 3PL providers seek to grow their value proposition, they are investing in technologies, services, and new locations to help take customers beyond tactical optimization to strategic business process improvement. In doing so, these 3PL providers are beginning to take on some of the characteristics of a Fourth-Party Logistics (4PL) provider.
In this paper, Everest Group explains the differences between 3PL and 4PL providers, as well as the benefits of each; and then examines the evolution of a 3PL provider and different operating models.
Analytics’ acceptance as a powerful tool for enterprises to achieve targeted business outcomes and create value is creating significant demand for advanced analytics. However, it is also giving rise to expectations of basic analytics (reporting, in…