Expect shipper-carrier relations in 2009 to take a more shipper-centric shape with the shippers dictating the terms. While this is probably not the best long-term strategy, short-term cost pressures will drive many shippers to behave as if this is 1999 and not 2009.

In June 2008, ARC Advisory Group conducted a web survey of 16 leading transportation management systems vendors to obtain their views on growth opportunities and market conditions. Almost 70 percent said their year-to-date sales and pipelines were larger than in 2007. This is not surprising when you consider the record fuel prices customers were dealing with at the start of the year (fuel prices had risen about 50 percent in less than a year). This led many companies to focus on transportation spend management, which led to continued investments in TMS. Then the economy stumbled.

AMR Research expects shared services organizations and outsourcing delivery models to be a crucial vehicle for reducing sourcing and procurement overhead expenses. This will be enabled by a labor arbitrage, centralization of resources, tighter efficiencies in managed spend, improved process acumen and access to new technologies. These technologies, however, will see a shift from traditional license approaches to a more economical, integrated SaaS approach.

In 2009, expect most large WMS and WCS applications to remain dedicated applications tailored to a company's particular business rules, with SOA concepts appearing primarily in the integration interface.

Increased linkage between material and financial flows requires supply chain managers to learn more about topics like working capital optimization, margin and asset utilization, valuation and risk, managerial accounting and cash flows, taxes and transfer prices.

From government to home solutions, RFID is changing, step by step, our way of working, answering our questions about the world we live in, as well as creating humanitarian solutions that can make a real difference in the lives of those in need. Many negative myths exist about RFID and its applicability, reliability and availability. They are oft repeated by those who have low to no contact with the actual solutions.