FEDEX联邦快递的首席信息官极客们关注的3项技术

企业科技领导者在指导公司的科技支出优先事项时，必须从两方面考虑：短期和长期。

短期内，目标是确保日常业务的可持续性，特别是在中断时期。从长远来看，高管们选择的项目能够推动业务发展并提供竞争优势。在行业趋势、专家洞察力和投资回报的指引下，高管们会经营这出戏。

在受到DataStax董事长兼首席执行官Chet Kapoor的采访时，联邦快递信息服务(FedEx Information Services)副总裁、联邦快递公司(FedEx Corp.)首席信息官罗布·卡特(Rob Carter)在接受采访时，列出了他的前三名优先项目：

01、基于传感器的物流

“在物联网的世界里，我真正兴奋的是基于传感器的物流，”卡特说，他在联邦快递的任期长达20年。联邦快递拥有“许多专利”的嵌入式传感器，使公司通过交付过程了解关键货物，卡特说：“今年我们将带来一波重大的创新浪潮。”

02、自动自助化

与DEKA开发和研究公司(DEKA Development and Research Corp.)一起，联邦快递一直在研发一种交付机器人，卡特称之为该技术的“有趣应用”。5月份，联邦快递也申请了一项专利注册。，具有本地管理系统和数据存储的自动采集过程。

03、区块链

供应链系统利用区块链系统来提高效率和提高能见度。但卡特也看到了这项技术在打击欺诈方面的潜力。卡特说：“随着世界越来越多地充斥着假冒伪劣品和边境等问题，我认为区块链在全球供应链内部成为一个开放且相互连接的系统有着巨大的潜力。”

传统遗留问题

在监督一家财富50强公司的技术时，风险很大，预算也很庞大。卡特说，对于一个像联邦快递这样规模的组织来说，领先的企业技术面临的一个挑战是从传统技术的转变。

卡特说：“我们所做的最困难的事情就是试图把注意力集中到现代的、占主导地位的技术设计中去。”在遗留技术上运行的企业技术系统可以成为“在基于云的世界中连接的一个抑制剂”。

整年，卡特与高层领导团队和业界思维领袖一起举行规划会议，以保持领先于创新曲线。

卡特说：“我们将‘上上下下’，看看完全不同的东西，我们将与工业和分析领域的杰出人士建立良好的联系。”

区块链优势

在大流行后的供应链应用区块链项目中，供应链很有空间。类似项目不受限制。

毕马威(KPMG)美国数字能力公司(DigitalCapability)美国负责人克利夫·正义(Cliff Justice)表示，在大流行开始时就已存在的供应链上的使用案例仍在继续，KPMG.投资回报率是帮助领导者围绕区块链做出决定的重要因素。

“数据显示，市场对区块链的应用有一个更复杂和更现实的看法，”正义说。“在这些供应链领域有更明显的投资回报。”

在.致股东的函件FedEx首席执行官弗雷德·史密斯(FredSmith)表示，区块链及其所能提供的洞察力“将彻底改变全球供应链”。

但使用区块链只会在用例中蓬勃发展，在用例中，它可以显示出与现有系统相比具有明显的显著优势，以抵消部署方面的投资和努力，Justice说。

虽然早期试点暂停，因为公司评估了这一流行病对业务的影响，但运行的网络--利益相关者已经结盟，资金已经清算完毕--项目将向前推进。

这是因为冠状病毒大流行使人们注意到已经面临的障碍供应链。弗雷斯特副总裁玛莎·贝内特说，对运输地点的可见性和供应链的相互关联性是行业面临的两大挑战。

分析人士认为供应链空间是区块链应用的一个关键领域，因为它提供了弹性和去中心化，允许公司共享单一来源的不可变的、可审计的数据。

原文：

3 technologies FedEx's CIO geeks out on 

Enterprise tech leaders are asked to think in two tracks when guiding a company's tech spend priorities: short term and long term.

In the short term, the goal is ensuring the sustainability of daily operations, especially in times of disruption. Long term, executives choose the projects that can push operations forward and provide a competitive advantage. Guided by industry trends, expert insight and return on investment, execs make the call and run the play.

Asked by host Chet Kapoor, chairman and CEO of DataStax, what technologies bring out the "geek" in him, Rob Carter, EVP of FedEx Information Services and CIO of FedEx Corp., listed his top three while speaking on the Inspired Execution podcast series:

Sensor-based logistics: "In the world of [internet of things], something that I'm really excited about is sensor-based logistics," said Carter, whose tenure at FedEx spans two decades. FedEx holds "many patents" on embedded sensors, which let the company "light up critical shipments" as they move through the delivery process. "This year will bring a pretty significant wave of innovations from us around that," said Carter.

Autonomy: Alongside DEKA Development and Research Corp., FedEx has been working on a delivery bot that Carter calls "an interesting application" of the technology. In May, FedEx also filed to register a patent around automating the picking process, featuring a local management system and data storage.

Blockchain: Blockchain systems are leveraged by supply chain systems to improve efficiency and boost visibility. But Carter also sees potential in the technology to help combat fraud. "As the world becomes more full of counterfeits and issues at borders and things like that, I think blockchain has a huge potential to be an open and connected system inside of supply chains globally," said Carter.

The question of legacy

When overseeing tech for a Fortune 50 firm, the stakes are high and budgets are expansive. One challenge of leading enterprise technology for an organization the size of FedEx is the shift away from legacy technology, said Carter.

"The hardest thing that we've done is try to marshal forward into the modern, dominant design of technology," said Carter. Enterprise tech systems running on legacy technologies can become "an inhibitor towards being connected in a cloud-based world."

Throughout the year, Carter holds planning sessions alongside senior leadership team and industry thought leaders to stay ahead of the innovation curve.

"We'll go 'up and out,' and look at something completely different, and we'll have wonderful connections to luminaries in industry and analytics," Carter said.

Blockchain's upper hand

In blockchain adoption post-pandemic, supply chain is one of the spaces where projects continue unfettered.

Use cases around supply chain that were in place at the start of the pandemic are continuing, said Cliff Justice, U.S. leader of Digital Capabilities at KPMG. ROI is an essential factor helping leaders make determinations around blockchain.

"The data is showing us that the market has a more sophisticated and realistic view of the application of blockchain," said Justice. "There's more tangible ROI in those supply chain areas."

In a letter to stockholders, FedEx CEO Fred Smith said blockchain, along with the insights it can provide, "will completely change worldwide supply chains."

But adoption of blockchain will only thrive in use cases where it can show it has a clear, significant advantage over existing systems to offset the investment and efforts around deployment, Justice said.

While early pilots paused as companies took stock of the impact the pandemic had on operations, running networks — where stakeholders were already aligned and funding was cleared — moved forward.

This is because the coronavirus pandemic put a spotlight on obstacles supply chains already faced. Visibility into shipment location and the interconnectedness of supply chains are two such industry challenges, said Forrester VP Martha Bennett.

The supply chain space is cited by analysts as a critical area for blockchain application, because it provides resiliency and decentralization, which allows companies to share a single source of immutable, auditable data.

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