Even though IDS has been part of the Courier, Delivery and Logistics Industry for 13+ years, we never joined the CLDA nor attended it’s annual conference.

This year, I decided to fix that and attended the 2020 Conference in Miami.

My goals were simple:

1. Learn more about the US market.
2. Explore the Vendor Marketplace
3. Decide if IDS should set up a Vendor Display at the 2021 Conference.

From Wednesday evening right up to Friday afternoon, I was constantly fascinated by what I was learning, hearing and seeing.

The word I heard most often was …Amazon.

In my market space, which is mainly Australia and Canada, the “Amazon effect” is not at the same level as it is in the US.

Here is a great article explaining why.

The highlight of the Amazon discussion was attending the “E-commerce and Final Mile” panel and hearing Deanna Kaufman from FedEx Customer Solutions speak. That lead into a few interesting side conversations about how Amazon will either become the next FedEx or Amazon’s rule bending will catch up to it.

Then there was all the Technology discussions

IDS is technology, that is what we do. So, I really enjoyed attending the “Operational Efficiencies Using Innovative Technologies” panel which was hosted by the articulate Robin Hammond from the Bullitt Group.

What I heard was companies were looking to technology, not to create new opportunities, but to solve pain points.

I thought this was fascinating. As one person explained to me, the US market has grown so fast, that most companies are just trying to keep up.

My personal new “bleeding edge” technology is GPS 3 and Dual GNSS.  These “new technologies” will increase the accuracy of GPS down to less than 1 metre and provide a new level of consistence. Could this mean the end of location barcodes? (https://www.geospatialworld.net/blogs/advantages-of-dual-frequency-gnss-in-smartphones/)

While my notebook is filled with pages and pages from the conference, I will end this blog with a quick note about the future of or our membership with CLDA. I found the association, its members and the conference open, intelligent and a thoughtful group. We will return in 2021.

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