The demands on the transportation industry to innovate and progress in technology are touching every sector, forcing companies to address long-standing challenges like fraud and cumbersome data movement. At the latest Trimble Insight Conference in New Orleans, Matt Salefski, CEO and co-founder of Rectangle, offered insights into how organizations can strengthen security and adopt modern connectivity solutions.
Salefski notes that security and fraud are tightly connected challenges in the freight space. He believes that fraud primarily occurs because "individuals have access to information that they shouldn't" and the most effective defense is to "just make data flow more seamlessly" by removing the number of steps—or 'hops'—a tender or bill of lading (B/L) must go through to reach the correct party. When processes involve sending documents via email or over the phone, additional opportunities for compromise are introduced.
Beyond security, the discussion focused heavily on integrations, which Salefski notes can often feel like a "bad word" in the industry. Shippers are increasingly demanding more data that isn't cleanly supported by legacy technologies like EDI, forcing brokers and carriers to undertake 10 to 15 separate integrations themselves. Rectangle aims to solve this complexity by providing a single API integration point that allows companies to read and write data to any needed system.
Regarding AI, Salefski cautioned against relying solely on AI agents for critical data movement tasks. While AI is "super super beneficial" for reaching 90% or 95% completion, moving data from point A to point B needs to be 100% of the time." Relying on humans to confirm AI-moved data means the human is still in the loop, failing to provide a significant, step-function improvement in current processes.
Overall, the interest sparked by new AI platforms has made the industry curious about what is possible, offering the next great opportunity since the transition from fax machines to email. To truly tap into this technology, systems must be connected, but companies also need the ability to integrate quickly so they are not "married to a new technology" before assessing its effectiveness.