Former procurement lead at a FTSE-250. Negotiated multi-country TMS and ERP rollouts; now audits TCO and governance.
The €800K Wake-Up Call A mid-sized German automotive parts manufacturer discovered the hard way what happens when TMS hidden costs aren't properly budgeted. Six months into implementation, €800,000 spent, they realized their new system couldn't handle their complex carrier network across 12 countries. Sound familiar?
Your TMS procurement team thinks they've done everything right. Request for proposals sent to five vendors, scoring matrices completed, due diligence calls scheduled. But 66% of enterprise software projects have cost overruns, with $66 billion in total overruns according to McKinsey's research with Oxford University. Half
Most TMS RFPs read like feature shopping lists. "Must support API integration." "Must have track and trace." "Must include reporting tools." Sound familiar? You tick boxes, compare spreadsheets, and wonder why the winning system still leaves your transport team juggling emails and Excel sheets
Budget overruns hit 75% of European TMS implementations, yet most shippers focus only on subscription costs when evaluating systems. The reality? Implementation costs range from €30,000 to €900,000, and for shippers with freight spend exceeding $250M annually, implementation can cost 2-3 times the subscription fee. The procurement mistakes
Now I have sufficient information about both eFTI compliance and TMS pricing to write the article. Let me create the blog post according to the guidelines. You've received three TMS quotes for your EU operation. One vendor promises "€0.50 per shipment" - another pitches "