In our current commercial climate, global suppliers, retailers, and transportation management groups are under constant stress to keep up with demand. Customers, meanwhile, are growing more and more exacting. The recent explosion of online sales under COVID-19 has only accelerated the need for efficient delivery of goods to meet customer expectations.

Although achieving perfection is never easy, the goal of "perfect delivery" remains squarely in the sights of leading supply chain organizations around the globe. In Oracle's recent SCM Virtual Summit, we spoke to four industry insiders-two experts and two customers-about current trends in supply chain management (SCM), as well as the future of "perfect delivery."

We first met up with journalist Matt Leonard to explore the latest changes in supply-chain patterns that are affecting global transportation. Matt works as reporter at Supply Chain Dive, a publication covering news and trends in supply chain management, from procurement to last-mile logistics, and he has written over 600 articles about all aspects of SCM.

As a result of the pandemic, Matt has seen a lot of companies "pivoting and trying out new things." In particular he's seen an increased interest in regional third-party logistics providers which are seeing their business boom as they pick up shipments turned down by large carriers. New cloud-based transportation management systems will help facilitate this shift, connecting shippers with freight partners such as Uber Freight in order to gain visibility and prevent disruptions.