A quick cross comparison of the two versions of the quadrant shows that project44 and Fourkites remain the dominant leaders in the market, with Shippeo and Overhaul the two players gaining the most ground in the last year.
The quadrants came be seen side by side below:
Gartner Magic Quadrant for Real-Time Transportation Visibility Platforms: 2021 – left, 2022 – right
The ‘big two’ remain well out in front
The first obvious takeaway from the two quadrants, as we have just referred to, is the continuing dominance of project44 and Fourkites. When it comes to ability execute, Gartner considers Jett McCandless’s company to be streets ahead of the competition. Fellow Chicago-based company Fourkites nonetheless boasts the greatest score as regards completeness of vision, where it is slightly ahead of its fierce competitor.
project44
Gartner’s 2022 research highlights project44’s strengths as being sales execution/pricing, customer experience, and market responsiveness/record. When it comes to sales execution, the research giant refers to project44’s year-over-year revenue growth in 2021, which has higher than any of its competitors. In the customer experience area, Gartner states that project44 customer reviews showed one of the highest overall and “willingness to recommend” ratings among all the vendors in the 2022 Magic Quadrant. Finally, when it comes to responsiveness/record, Gartner notes project44’s expansion of its platform capabilities, modes and geographic presence.
Gartner’s research also covered areas where each company can improve, or ‘cautions’. In this regard, the advisory firm notes that project44 is yet to fully capitalize on growing Asian markets. Gartner also believes that project44 has yet to really build a strong presence in the public sector, and that some work is to be done to present one unified UI across all its products.
Fourkites
Gartner’s research concludes that one of Fourkites’ strengths is its sales strategy, where continues to be one of the largest RTTVP vendors in terms of revenue, customers and presence in RTTVP deals, especially in North America. Another plus noted by Gartner is FourKites’ product or service; the company is considered a leader in higher-level complexity use cases for critical capabilities. Finally, FourKites’ geographic strategy is praised by Gartner, who writes that FourKites has grown its presence across the globe in 2021 and has plans in place to continue that global expansion, specifically in Europe and Asia/Pacific.
On the ‘cautions’ side, Gartner refers to some shortcomings with customer experience, as well as lower than average year-over-year percentage revenue growth (though Gartner stresses here that FourKites’ top-line revenue is among the top two in the market). Interestingly, like project44, Gartner believes FourKites has not grasped the opportunity to grow in supporting the government sector.
The biggest upward movers
Shippeo
The 2022 Magic Quadrant reveals Shippeo to be one of the biggest winners in the market over the last 12 months. The company has leaped Sixfold to be the best-placed player to join project44 and FourKites as leaders.
According to Gartner’s research, this has been down to a strong product offering, solid sales figures and high levels of customer satisfaction.
In order to make the leap into the leaders quarter of the quadrant, Shippeo will nonetheless need to address the ‘cautions’ from Gartner’s research. Those are lower sales in comparison to the aforementioned ‘big 2′ (our term, not Gartner’s), shortcomings with supply chain convergence product development, as well as growth in the North American and Pacific Markets.
Overhaul
The biggest mover between the two quadrants is undoubtedly Overhaul. The company has made a huge leap when it comes to ability to execute, seeing it enter the challengers section of the quadrant as a result.
As described by Gartner in its research, the company provides a customizable solution that offers device-agnostic, global in-transit multimodal protection of cargo, brand and intellectual property.
It’s strengths are considered to be good sales, high customer satisfaction, and its innovative approach which ties visibility to risk management for both cargo shippers and logistics service providers. Areas worthy of caution according to Gartner are the company’s relatively small carrier network and customer base, as well as concerns over its sales strategy.
Other observations
- Sixfold, now part of Transporeon, made progress in terms of the completeness of vision axis, but lost ground to Shippeo overall
- Relative to the competition on the two quadrants, CH Robinson regressed
- Convey dropped out of the quadrant as it was acquired by project44. Moreover, RateLinx and Trimble were not included in the 2022 quadrant as neither now sells RTTVP as a stand-alone solution