DDS Logistics celebrates its 25^th birthday this year. What makes this company so enduring and strong?

DDS Logistics owes its durability and strength to a number of factors, especially in these times of crisis.

The soundness of the market, to begin with. France is still poorly equipped in TMS. The needs remain substantial and with the current downturn, the solutions that offer fast returns on investments are favored.

Our clients’ loyalty. We gradually made it through the “sieve” of corporate clients’ purchasing departments. They rely on us for their large scale deployments and long-term strategic projects.

Our products and our model. We have developed an innovative functional coverage and technical offer which, and this is an important differentiation criterion, facilitate the collaboration between shippers, carriers and forwarders. In France, we were the first to offer ASP (now SaaS) mode TMS. One client out of two chooses this mode which accounts for 40% of our turnover.

Finally we owe that permanence to our collaborators. Many have been around since the beginning, in particular those at our Rennes R&D center. We were able to constitute a core expertise, teams that are committed in the long term. They have the skills, the responsiveness and the ability that it takes to understand the clients’ business issues and implement the solutions. We have both the products and the teams capable of making them work best for the client. That’s why DDS Logistics is number one on the TMS market in France.

The company recently arrived in China. Does it mean that for DDS Logistics the future lies on the international scene?

We are currently the leader of the TMS market in France. Our ambition is to be one of the leaders in Europe. There is no TMS market on the continent. With deployments getting bigger and bigger and on the scale of Europe, the situation is likely to change and the notion of leadership will have to be conceived not at country level but at the European one.

Many European flows originate from Asia. Being a leader in Europe also implies being able to support both our European clients’ deployments in Asia and Asian companies’ European projects. This may involve opening new offices of our own, organic growth, partnerships. We are developing our presence in Asia along these lines. We have offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai. A partnership in Thailand is being considered. We are examining opportunities in Spain, Belgium and North Africa.

Is the product offer bound to grow as well?

The TMS market is a relatively new one where much remains to be done. Product investment keeps up. Every year, we devote 15% of our turnover to this field. Transport cost reduction, productivity gains, international flow control and of course sustainable development are major challenges. As a major carbon dioxide source, the freight industry will have to address this issue. By launching our CO2 emissions calculation module this year, we have already started anticipating.

What are your wishes on this 25^th DDS Logistics birthday?

The way the transport function is perceived has evolved a great deal over the years. It still has to find its own place in company strategy, to get the recognition it deserves. We want to contribute to enhancing the status of the business.

And on another level, we wish for happy, smiling customers and employees.