IoT and AI expected to be most disruptive technologies for logistics in 2020

The logistics industry views these technologies as generating decent returns so far but most transformation is yet to come according to new report

Logistics leaders believe that the Internet of Things (IoT) will be the technology that will have the greatest effect on their industry in the next 12 to 18 months according to a survey of more than 500 industry professionals from eft’s new State of Logistics Technology 2019 report, which is free to download now.

It was closely followed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and these two technologies are also rated as top for generating Return on investment (RoI) for logistics firms in 2019.

AI is also seen as the most transformative technology for the logistics and transportation sector over the coming half decade, much more so than IoT. In the survey 46% of respondents thought that AI would have the biggest impact, compared to 29% who selected blockchain and just 16% who said IoT.

“Looking further ahead, there are a variety of other potentially disruptive technologies on the horizon, including blockchain and autonomous vehicles. However, we view the IoT (and relatedly, 5G) as having the most potential for disruption,” says Greg Carter, CTO of GlobalTranz. “As more and more devices throughout the supply chain and manufacturing process become part of the IoT, they will produce an even richer data stream that will send signals in real-time that trigger a wide variety of events, including, for example, the need for a truck to transport a shipment of goods.”

Although many see great potential in blockchain alongside IoT and AI, the technology is only just beginning to become embedded within the industry and there is slow progress in seeing adoption widening. The same percentage said that they were generating ROI from the 2018 survey (9%) and the number of firms that said that they had yet to carry out a proof of concept fell 2% year-on-year to 68%.

Download the complete report here. 

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