In the modern digital economy, logistics is where the rubber meets the road.

But scarce trucks and drivers, late deliveries, spoiled shipments, and rising shipment costs can put a supplier's relationships with customers to the test, as well as cut into its bottom line. Fortunately, suppliers are starting to apply a range of new technologies-the Internet of Things, machine learning, driverless vehicles, and blockchain among them-to address those and other problem areas.

For example, IoT systems already are enabling produce suppliers to monitor temperature and conditions of individual pallets of fruit and route those with a shorter remaining shelf life to the nearest grocery stores. And while self-driving trucks barreling down the highway is still a futuristic scenario, autonomous vehicles unloading shipments at a warehouse isn't so far-fetched, as they work in a controlled area, therefore a safer proving ground.

These functional improvements are important, but a company won't benefit from the true potential of new technologies if they're not fully integrated with its supply chain, finance, sales, marketing, and other back-office and front-office applications, with the data outputs from one system becoming data inputs for other systems.