Brad Pitt did not coin the phrase “adapt or die.”
It was in fact the late Andy Grove, Intel’s longtime leader, who said in the mid-1990s, “You have no choice but to operate in a world shaped by globalization and the information revolution. There are two options: adapt or die.”
It wasn’t until the 2011 “Moneyball” in which Pitt, portraying Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane, drove home a point with: “Adapt or die.”
Regardless of who said it, the warning to adapt a new way of doing things or fail miserably still holds true (as does another Grove quote, “The new environment dictates two rules: first, everything happens faster; second, anything that can be done will be done, if not by you, then by someone else, somewhere.”)
It doesn’t matter whether you manage a baseball team, a tech company, or a freight brokerage, if you don’t adapt to the 2020s way of operating, you may not see another season. Freight brokerages, specifically, must adopt automation in order to compete — and win — in the big leagues.
The Growing Need for Automation
A March 2020 Transport Topics article, “How 3PLs Are Evolving to Stay Competitive,” remains relevant in 2025.
“The third-party logistics business is undergoing a dramatic, technology-driven transformation. The rise of digital freight matching, automated transactions and end-to-end shipment tracking is altering the way that 3PLs interact with their shipper customers and motor carriers alike.
“Although demand for logistics services likely will increase in the decade ahead, freight brokers and 3PLs will need to adapt and evolve to remain relevant in this rapidly changing industry,” it said. “Looking toward the future, industry executives and observers generally envision a market that will be led by growing, tech-enabled 3PLs operating connected freight networks that increasingly automate the flow of transactions.”
Drumkit is automating the flow of transactions today with our intuitive freight broker software. The Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) recognized Drumkit’s efforts to meet freight brokers’ need for automation with both the Judges and People’s Choice awards at the 2024 Technovations Conference. TIA lauded Drumkit for the practical use of AI in “making the everyday life of brokers easier.”
Key Benefits of Automation for 3PLs
“At Drumkit, we are rethinking a broker’s day-to-day priorities,” CEO Dhruv Gupta told TIA News. “We know the difference between a good brokerage and a damn good brokerage is in the relationships you’ve built. Drumkit can help you focus on that instead of spending time doing data entry or sending emails.
“With Drumkit, you never have to leave your inbox to perform an action. At its core, Drumkit is an integration tool. We plug into your transportation management system, rating tools, scheduling portals and even tracking tools. With AI, we pull in relevant information from these tools so you can trigger all the actions you need from one place,” Gupta said.
Automation enables:
- Improved efficiency, reducing manual tasks and optimizing workflows.
- Cost optimization, minimizing errors and maximizing profitability.
- Data-driven decision-making, leveraging real-time analytics for smarter strategies.
- Enhanced customer experience, with faster response times and improved service reliability.
Drumkit Leads the Way in 3PL Automation
In that 2020 Transport Topics article, Mario Harik, then the chief information officer at XPO Logistics, said, “We see a world where you have a lot of automation, you have a lot of visibility, you have a lot of efficiency through data — where you have a shortening of fulfillment cycles, where you have more nimbleness and just more efficient supply chains across the board.” (Divisions of XPO Logistics have since been split into separate companies. Harik is CEO of XPO, the LTL company, and the logistics branch is now known as RXO.)
That world has come to be in five short years, and at Drumkit, we’re a major player in the automation of freight brokerages. Today, with Drumkit, you can automate:
- Smart Autoreplies, which drastically reduce response time.
- Load Building, which eliminates manual data entry errors.
- Load Matching, which enables quick and accurate carrier selection.
- Real-Time Shipment Updates, which keep all parties informed without constant check-ins.
Book an introductory call, and we can make our pitch.
