The study by the Fraunhofer Working Group for Supply Chain Services (SCS) is based on expert interviews and an online survey. One thing can be clarified in advance: freight tendering should not be underestimated. It can result in more than reduced transport costs. The service provider portfolio could be streamlined, running time and services improved. Based on the current status of such processes, the study looked into which information technologies can effectively assist the freight tendering process. Among other things, the pros and cons of tendering and communication via e-mail are compared with those of an e-platform for bid comparison.

The developments the researchers forecast - with reservations - for the next ten years are especially exciting. It is apparently quite conceivable that technologically advanced transport companies may by then have stored all transportation needs and resources in a central (cloud) platform which is freely accessible to the parties involved. Companies could use this to take care of daily transport management. Larger organizations may in future use e-bidding procedures to ensure the transparency of their contract awarding process.

A study by the Emporia consultancy , which surveyed 104 industrial decision-makers, also showed that there is still a lot of cost-cutting potential in the supply chain . For example, one in three companies with an annual turnover of more than 500 million euros does not carry out comprehensive cost measurement. In addition, only 36 respondents rated the cost transparency of their supply chain as very good across all divisions.