September 22, 2025 - by Synoptek
The transportation and logistics industry is at an inflection point. Freight rates have been falling for over two years, margins are razor-thin, and the weight of legacy systems is slowing growth. At the same time, customers demand faster fulfillment, real-time visibility, and seamless last-mile delivery, while risks like cyberattacks and cargo theft continue to climb.
Despite these headwinds, technology spending in transportation and logistics is accelerating. 71% of logistics companies invest in AI, analytics, and Transportation Management Systems (TMS) platforms to counter labor shortages and rising costs. In comparison, mergers and acquisitions in the logistics tech are up 15% year over year.
It’s clear: IT is no longer a back-office function. It’s the competitive battlefield where the future of transportation and logistics will be won.
This shift was at the centre of Synoptek’s recent webinar, Deliver More, Spend Less: Building Future-Ready Logistics Through Strategic IT Investment, hosted in partnership with FreightWaves – a trusted provider of global supply chain market intelligence.
Synoptek leaders Bo Bray and Manan Thakkar joined industry expert Mary O’Connell and BEON’s Chief Digital Officer, Miles English, to discuss how organizations can reframe IT spending as a growth engine rather than a cost center.
Watch the on-demand webinar to hear the full discussion, explore customer success stories, and learn how strategic IT investment can help your transportation and logistics business deliver more while spending less.
Why Traditional Tech Budgeting Is Failing
For decades, transportation and logistics companies approached IT the way they approached electricity or water: as a utility bill to be minimized. As Bo Bray explained, this mindset stripped IT of its strategic value and left little room for innovation.
Forward-looking organizations are breaking out of this trap. Instead of asking, “How much did we spend last year?” they’re asking, “Which investments will generate measurable value next year?”
This means balancing day-to-day operations with deliberate automation, analytics, and AI investment. It also means shifting from rigid annual budgets to rolling, outcome-driven funding models that can adapt as the market changes.
The Hidden Cost of Inaction
If the pressure to modernize feels overwhelming, the alternative—doing nothing—is far worse. As Manan Thakkar emphasized during the webinar, “The real risk in technology isn’t moving too fast; it’s moving too slow.”
The data backs this up. Cargo theft in the U.S. is expected to increase by 22% this year, while legacy systems and manual processes drive operational costs higher every quarter. Competitors that adopt AI-powered visibility platforms and automation aren’t just getting faster; they are resetting customer expectations. Once the bar moves, slower and less reliable service isn’t forgiven; it’s abandoned.
Inaction also compounds financial risk. Legacy licenses become more expensive, tech debt deepens, and every disruption becomes a fire drill. Meanwhile, the compounding returns of AI and automation slip further out of reach.
Smarter Ways to Save
Many executives worry that modernizing IT will mean runaway costs. However, as the panel highlighted, the opposite is often true. By tackling hidden inefficiencies, logistics companies can cut spending while boosting capability.
Managed services, for instance, replace fragmented in-house firefighting with 24/7 standardized support, often reducing IT costs by 25–45%. Cloud optimization can uncover “ghost” licenses and unused virtual machines that drain thousands of monthly dollars.
Vendor consolidation, particularly after M&A, can simplify operations and eliminate overlapping tools. Automation, whether through RPA or AI-powered workflows, can free teams from repetitive tasks like shipment updates and billing so they can focus on higher-value work.
Crucially, modernization doesn’t have to be a “big bang.” Phased upgrades allow companies to replace legacy systems incrementally, spreading investment while capturing savings and performance gains.
One logistics provider processed 250% more daily transactions while automating 85% of truck tracking. Another saw on-time pickups rise by 56% and on-time deliveries by 58% after implementing modern Transportation Management System (TMS) and outsourcing IT management. Others achieved similar results Others achieved similar results with TMS software, streamlining complex workflows and enhancing real-time visibility. Across multiple clients, managed services and license rationalization have cut IT spending nearly in half, with some companies reducing legacy license costs by, streamlining complex workflows and enhancing real-time visibility. Across multiple clients, managed services and license rationalization have cut IT spending nearly in half, with some companies reducing legacy license costs by up to 90%.
A Customer’s Perspective: BEON’s Digital Journey
Perhaps the most compelling voice came from Miles English, Chief Digital Officer at BEON. As a Synoptek customer, he described how his team rethought IT spending:
- Protect the foundation: Ensuring uptime and cybersecurity to maintain customer trust.
- Drive efficiency: Embedding AI and workflow automation to streamline operations.
- Differentiate through tech: Putting advanced tools in the hands of employees, customers, and carriers.
- Invest in innovation: Redeploying capital saved from IT rationalization into AI for long-term advantage.
His advice to peers: “Focus on ROI and redeploy capital into the things that drive business outcomes. Free up your people from the work that adds the least value so they can focus on the innovations that will shape the next three to five years.”
What should Logistics Leaders do Next?
The takeaway from the webinar was clear: IT is no longer overhead -It’s the engine that determines whether transportation and logistics organizations fall behind or move ahead. Real savings don’t come from cutting deeper but from spending smarter—optimizing cloud, automating processes, consolidating vendors, and investing in platforms like the Transportation Management System or TMS software to drive agility and growth.
The cost of inaction grows every day – but the opportunity to act has never been greater. By reframing IT as a driverof resilience, efficiency, and growth you can unlock measurable business impact
Join our Complimentary Cost Optimization Workshop to identify hidden inefficiencies in your IT environment and discover how to maximize ROI.
