Today, supply chain leaders are under constant pressure to swiftly resolve exceptions, run smooth operations and have the high-quality data to do so effectively. Yet, despite best efforts, gaps in carrier data integrations often lead to incomplete milestones or missing key data points, directly jeopardizing on-time delivery and overall performance.
Despite significant investments in visibility technology, most companies still operate with just 40-70% network visibility. The problem isn’t the visibility platform itself—it’s that the data feeding into it is incomplete, or, in some cases, low quality.
The strength of your decision-making is directly tied to the quality of your data. Put simply, decision intelligence is only as reliable as the network behind it.
Organizations that operate with limited connectivity are essentially making critical decisions based on half the picture. Do you really want to guide your supply chain strategy using insights from just 50% of your network? Companies that achieve above 90% network connectivity gain a clearer, more complete view—enabling faster, smarter decisions that reduce risk and drive performance across their entire supply chain.
Where connection meets decision making
Managing carrier connections across complex supply chain networks presents significant operational challenges. Each carrier brings a unique mix of systems, integration requirements, and onboarding processes. The result is an overwhelming, disjointed effort to maintain and troubleshoot connections, often tracked in manual spreadsheets that quickly become outdated and unreliable.
The consequences of low connectivity are significant:
- Incomplete or missing milestones
- Limited ability to benchmark and improve data quality
- Missed opportunities for optimization across routes and carriers
- The value of a visibility platform is undermined by limited data coverage
- Reactive operations that rely on manual intervention
Why most networks operate with low connectivity
Here’s a scenario that might sound painfully familiar: Your team maintains a massive spreadsheet tracking carrier onboarding progress. It has tabs for different modes, columns for contact information, status updates, and notes about the next steps. Someone updates it weekly (when they remember), but it’s never up to date, and half the team doesn’t know it exists.
Open it up, and confusion sets in. Half the carriers are marked “In Progress” with no updates for months. One carrier appears on three different tabs with conflicting contact details. The “Discovery Phase” could mean go-live is weeks or even months away. The color codes are cryptic, the notes lack timestamps, and no one is quite sure who owns what.
Manual tracking like this simply doesn’t scale. It might work with 20 carriers—but becomes a liability at 50, and chaos at 200.
The problem is compounded by modal silos. Each mode of transit can have its own systems and integration workflows, both of which change from carrier to carrier. Without a centralized approach, these differences fragment visibility and stall progress.
And without real-time insights into onboarding, delays often go unnoticed and unresolved. What looks “almost done” may have been stalled for weeks—hidden in plain sight.
Transforming network management
The organizations achieving exceptional visibility outcomes do things differently. They’ve moved from reactive firefighting (fixing problems after they occur) to preventing problems before they occur.
Bringing everything into one view changes how you make decisions. Instead of responding to the loudest complaints, teams can prioritize based on strategic impact, for example, asking “Which connections would give us the biggest data availability improvement?” instead of “Who’s behind on updates?”
This shift from assumptions to assurance empowers teams to manage their networks proactively. With real-time insight into your connection health, you can allocate resources more effectively, improve operational resilience, and scale with confidence.
The path forward: Making connectivity a strategic asset
With live insights into connection status and data quality performance, teams can instantly understand where progress is stalling, which carriers need attention, and where ownership lies for the next steps.
That’s where project44’s Connection Center comes in — a powerful solution designed for visibility operations teams who need real-time insight into the health of their carrier network. By surfacing targeted, actionable insights, teams can take immediate steps toward improving network visibility.
But improving your network visibility doesn’t require a complete overhaul—it starts with a few focused, actionable steps.
Here’s how you can get started this week:
- Audit your current carrier connections
Create a clear list of which carriers are fully integrated, partially connected, or still offline. Don’t rely on assumptions—verify the data flow.
- Calculate your actual visibility percentage
Measure how much of your shipment volume is covered by real-time, reliable data. This KPI should be as visible as your on-time delivery rate or transportation spend.
- Identify your top carriers by volume that aren’t fully connected
These are your high-impact opportunities. Prioritize them for onboarding or troubleshooting—this is where you’ll see the fastest ROI.
Visibility doesn’t improve by chance. It improves with deliberate action, strategic focus, and scalable systems.
Ultimately, your visibility platform is only as effective as the network behind it. Organizations that reach 90%+ connectivity don’t just gain better insights—they unlock a new level of agility, performance, and control.
