Descartes Systems Group (Nasdaq: DSGX) released results from its 10th Annual Global Transportation Management Benchmark Survey, showing that the share of North American organizations planning to increase transportation management technology investment rose from 53% in 2017 to 78% in 2026.

The survey of 600 senior transportation decision-makers globally, conducted with SAPIO Research, found that 85% of organizations now view transportation as either a competitive differentiator or strategic tool, up from 65% a decade ago. Business growth is the leading driver of transportation management system adoption for both shippers (53%) and logistics service providers (LSPs) (48%).

Despite increased investment, AI adoption at scale remains limited. Only 19% of shippers and 15% of LSPs report using AI broadly, with most still in exploratory, pilot, or partial deployment stages. Data quality is the top barrier to scaling AI, cited by 45% of LSPs and 33% of shippers, followed by integration complexity at 38% and 39%, respectively.

Among organizations that have deployed AI, shippers report the greatest benefit in reduced administrative and labor costs (55%), while LSPs cite improved service (53%) and freight cost reduction (46%). Freight cost management remains the largest current transportation challenge for shippers (35%) and LSPs (25%).

Full truckload visibility was identified as needing improvement by 57% of shippers and 43% of LSPs, up 14 and 19 percentage points, respectively, from 2025. Increasing AI adoption ranked as the top transportation priority over the next two years among shippers and LSPs combined (58%), with reducing freight costs second (57%).

Growth expectations remain elevated, with 79% of shippers and 84% of LSPs expecting at least 5% annual growth over the next two years. Nearly 74% of LSPs expect annual growth of 5–15%, up 26 percentage points year over year.

"Organizations no longer need to be convinced that transportation technology creates value, as they are increasingly focused on how to maximize that value," said Alan Dunkerley, SVP of Product Management at Descartes.