Location technology will play a significant role in supply chain asset tracking and management in the coming years. Supply chain companies are now beginning to adopt connected devices that provide basic asset intelligence. With the expansion of the Internet of Things (IOT), technology already exists that would allow further insights and enable more business opportunities. In the coming years of mass integration with IOT, location will help logistics providers tackle a number of enterprise challenges.
Weft, a Skyhook customer, is a global logistics data company that provides asset management and intelligence to help businesses improve productivity. Weft makes it easy to tackle complex business problems by using sensors and location technology to reduce costs and improve delivery times for the shipping of goods around the world. Weft’s software aggregates location data, alternative routes, weather predictions, and relevant events - all to inform supply chain decisions that can improve a company’s bottom line.
We interviewed Weft’s Director of Product, Danielle Chaplick, and several other members of the Weft team on the direction of the Supply Chain industry in relation to connected devices in 2015.
1). What is Weft? How is it different from other asset tracking solutions on the market?
Weft is a global logistics data company that combines sensors and supply chain analytics to help businesses gain real-time asset intelligence, reduce disruption and improve operational productivity. Our mission is to unite the world of logistics by connecting data with contextual insights in order to help companies make smarter logistical decisions, while improving their bottom line. We do so by providing insights and visibility through dashboards, applications and formalized recommendations.
What makes us different is that we are truly an end-to-end supply chain visibility company, and not simply a hardware company or a software company. We use every piece of data we can get our hands on to derive global supply chain insights, whether collected from our devices and sensors or via many other sources. We make real-time predictions as to what’s happening in the world, both at the macro and micro level. Weft is the single source of truth in global logistics.
2). How does accurate location factor into your business? How are you leveraging Skyhook?
Accurate location is essential to the clarity of our products. Clean data is necessary for providing faster and more efficient decision-making, mitigating asset losses and formulating predictive modeling for our clients. Skyhook is one of several key partners that Weft utilizes to achieve highly accurate location analysis within our IOT ecosystem.
3). What is the biggest challenge you and / or your industry faces in 2015? Any big plans for you?
Cost-Effective Growth -- for both Weft and from an industry standpoint! Growing fast enough and getting enough data quickly is the greatest challenge we face in global trade. At the same time, being able to deliver a solution that is cost-effective at the scale of tens-to-hundreds of millions is key.
4). What role does Skyhook's Precision Location have in shaping the direction of the asset tracking industry?
Skyhook’s comprehensive database of Wi-Fi networks and tools to augment our current positioning system will be imperative to helping us succeed in traditionally difficult areas to derive location, such as urban environments. Working with Skyhook's Precision Location technology has allowed us to quickly verify the accuracy of our asset positioning. You'd expect that being able to put a dot on a map would be fairly straightforward; however, there are many challenges and the insights from Skyhook's PL allows folks like us in the IOT space to focus on their core competencies.
5). On your website you mention adding data from environmental factors to your product dashboard – what types of context are you layering on top of asset locations?
We capture things like global weather patterns, oil prices, port congestion, news, throughput, traffic conditions, market sentiment, and provide comprehensive route analysis based on proprietary geospatial datasets.
6). How did you come to choose Skyhook as your location provider? What results did you look for while evaluating?
We chose Skyhook as one of our partners because they truly have an unparalleled body of data. Weft is always looking for complementary providers to participate in our Works with Weft program -- we found Skyhook’s data to be highly effective in improving our urban / indoor location services -- places where traditional GPS and Cellular location services fall short. We look forward to building a strong partnership with Skyhook!
