The core problem in supply chain resilience is often embarrassingly simple: nobody knows who else could make the part. A supplier directory solving that would be immediately useful. Resilience stopped being theoretical around 2020 and has stayed near the top of corporate risk registers since. Pandemic disruption, canal closures, export controls and geopolitical fragmentation have each made the point. What companies buy in response is mapping, alternative sourcing, buffer strategy and visibility software, a large and growing spend served by consultancies, data providers and platforms.

Most shipments still pass through several unconnected systems, which is why visibility software and integration platforms are a substantial market. Somebody has to stitch it together. Integrated shipping is the promise every freight forwarder makes and few deliver: one provider handling the whole journey across road, sea, air and rail, with one set of documents and one point of contact. The software reading is the most commercially interesting, since integration is a permanent problem in an industry carrying decades of incompatible systems.