Meet Chase King, Senior Product Manager for Software Development at Corporate Traffic Logistics. With expertise spanning truck driving, sales, operations, and technology, Chase plays a pivotal role in driving the strategy, growth and development of our software at CT. Since joining us earlier this year, Chase has significantly influenced our technological foundation, built over 30+ years at Corporate Traffic Logistics.
Join us for an exclusive Q&A session with Chase as we explore what distinguishes CT technologically from other 3PLs.
Introduce yourself and how you came to Corporate Traffic
I was born and raised in Seattle, WA but I’ve been in Atlanta, GA for the last 3 years. My introduction to logistics was from my uncle who is an owner operator and taught me to dispatch and drive when I first graduated school. After that, I did carrier sales for a few brokerage firms starting at CH Robinson. I eventually made it to Convoy which is where I moved to the tech side of the business. For 5 years, I worked there to help start and manage their contract freight business. I then took a stint on the product team at Truckstop as well. I’ve now been at CT for 4 months as a Product Manager on the software development team.
How has the logistics industry evolved over the past decade, and how has Corporate Traffic adapted to these changes?
Over the past decade, the logistics industry has seen a substantial increase in venture capital investment, coinciding with unprecedented challenges like the pandemic. These conditions led to a ton of innovation, technology adoption, new players and evolving customer expectations that have created a much different climate from 10 years ago. Corporate Traffic has adapted by making significant investments in technology to evolve with the industry while still retaining a service and customer focused business model.
Why is technology adoption crucial within the logistics industry?
Technology adoption enhances operational efficiency by streamlining inventory management, order fulfillment, and transportation logistics. In return, this can significantly reduce a brokerage’s operational cost. Automated systems can optimize route planning, reduce delivery times, and minimize transportation costs, which is an incredible advantage in the logistics industry because it’s so competitive and price sensitive.
Brokerages that are able to rapidly adopt technology will gain market share by offering significant savings to their customers, ultimately leading to more consolidation in a very fragmented industry.
How does CT’s technology differentiate us from other 3PLs?
CT’s cradle to grave business model is unlike any other brokerage I’ve been at. Not only does it enable us to provide superior service to customers, but it also has unique requirements that off the shelf CRM/TMS systems are not able to support. With our own development team, we’re able to have custom solutions that meet the unique needs of Corporate Traffic and our customers. I’m still very early in my time at Corporate Traffic, but I’m excited about our advancement in Technology thru Smartgistics that we are starting to help automate spot bidding with some key customers.
How does CT foster a culture of innovation within the software development department, while ensuring collaboration and communication between other departments?
At CT, we emphasize close collaboration with all business stakeholders. Our development teams meet with Sales and Operations leadership to align our technology strategy and priorities with overall business needs. This ensures constant communication and collaboration across departments, driving innovation and meeting the company’s objectives.