GrandCanals launches cloud-based fulfillment tool

Logistics technology provider GrandCanals has launched an analytics platform tailored for the needs of third-party logistics providers (3PLs) struggling to adapt to e-commerce demands, the company said today.

Known as the Fulfillment Intelligence Cloud for 3PLs, the analytics application could help 3PLs manage and optimize their fulfillment and shipping across all modes, including small-parcel, less-than-truckload (LTL), truckload, airfreight, and ocean, GrandCanals said.

Los Gatos, Calif.-based GrandCanals says 3PLs have had to evolve their business models to support the huge increase in their customers' direct-to-consumer shipments as a result of the e-commerce boom.

The Fulfillment Intelligence Cloud is designed to help 3PLs handle that changing environment by applying data science and analytics. Customers can use the platform to differentiate their services by delivering direct-to-consumer intelligence to customers, and optimize their own direct-to-consumer services by increasing margins, optimizing pricing, reducing their cash-to-cash cycle, and automating billing, GrandCanals says.

"In this brave new world of e-commerce, 3PLs recognize the opportunity that direct-to-consumer shipping presents and are struggling to adapt to their customers' increasing demand for greater innovation and more robust intelligence," GrandCanals Vice President of Marketing Sean Wilcox said in a release. "With the Fulfillment Intelligence Cloud for 3PLs, 3PLs can immediately plug into the growing e-commerce market and stand out from the crowd by proactively delivering strategic insights to their customers."