FourKites has announced the availability of the FourKites Academy. Customers can access the new training platform from within the FourKites Community. The platform offers a range of training materials and also provides a Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP)–accredited course. The course counts as hours completed toward renewing a member CSCMP SC Pro certification. FourKites is now listed as a continuing education provider for CSCMP.
The FourKites Academy is free for all users of the FourKites Platform, including Customers, Carriers and Partners. It will allow them to keep up to date with the latest FourKites innovations. Recent updates to the course materials include:
- Product Fundamentals: Full Truckload
- Product Fundamentals: Appointment Manager
- Introduction to the Customer Community
- Product Fundamentals: Understanding ETAs
- Product Fundamentals: Ocean
- Introduction to the Carrier Community
- Product Fundamentals: Full Truckload for Carrier Partners
Priya Rajagopalan, Chief Product Officer at FourKites, commented, “Through FourKites Academy, we are empowering supply chain professionals with new skills and knowledge that will drive their professional and organisational growth. The Academy is one of the many ways we’re investing in customer support and success, making it easy for them to scale FourKites across their teams and organisations.”
What lies within
While Enterprise Times did not have access to the Academy, I asked FourKites to provide some information about what customers can expect. FourKites answered, “FourKites Academy includes articles, short video demonstrations, micro-learning and interactive quizzes with real-time points and badging. The platform is available on mobile devices. There are also live offerings of FourKites Academy, like our Navigator badge awarded to participants at FourKites Academy – LIVE at Visibility 2023.”
The Academy also provides a gamified learning experience which allows learners to challenge themselves and compete with colleagues. They can earn points and badges to demonstrate their level of skill and potentially enhance their career with evidence of learning.
FourKites is also continuously developing new courses and enhancing the existing ones to ensure that the information provided is up to date. With constant changes within the supply chain ecosystem, this is important.
Enterprise Times asked FourKites to explain how they are changing the Acedeademy in the coming months, “In the coming year, FourKites will continue to add Badges to our Academy within the Community. This will include our current product suite, as well as any additional products we bring to market. In addition, we will host our second Academy LIVE at Visibility in September 2024. New in 2024 will be premium offerings, both within Community and live instruction.”
Building on the FourKites Community
The Academy extends the FourKites Community, which already provides information and a forum for exchanging knowledge. The Community already hosts a monthly “Show Me How Webinar” and offers additional tips each week and product demonstrations.
The Community enables customers and partners to engage with each other, share best practices and influence the roadmap of the FourKites solutions. One logistics Strategy Analyst from a CPG company, noted, “FourKites continues to excel and impress me with their ability to deliver tools that are useful and support our account in a way that is customer-first.
“In working with them, they have been able to roll out coverage in multiple countries, manage the work and enhance their tool along the way. I’m very impressed with their product and the agility in delivery.”
The Community is a way for FourKites to get closer to its customers and for customers a way to influence FourKites. Customers who provide ideas that are realised within the product are invited to join the Innovation Partner program. The program has generated over 200 product enhancements and now includes companies such as Andersen Corporation, Canfor, Henkel, Kimberly-Clark and Sprouts Farmers Market.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
In creating a closed Academy, FourKites will help customers improve their skills. This is important, with research from the 2023 MHI Annual Industry Report indicating that hiring and retaining qualified workers is the top challenge for supply chain leaders. To address this, 41% noted that reskilling and training their workforce is key to preparing for future disruptions.
The question is whether FourKites has missed a trick in opening up its Academy to an even wider audience as Salesforce has done with its Trailhead LMS. Others in the supply chain might benefit from even limited access to the Academy, and it might open up opportunities for FourKites to extend the solution.
