The holiday season is a time of opportunity and immense pressure, especially for businesses. With sales increasing by at least 30%, impatient consumers expect minimal wait time, partners look at filling immediate service requests, and burdened transportation and logistics cause delays. To top it all off, the employees need a vacation too!

The stakes are immense, with supply chains under stress due to surging demand, material shortages, and global disruptions. From warehouse operations to supply chain system management, skills gaps are affecting efficiency, causing delays, and ultimately impacting the bottom line. A recent survey by MHI revealed that 57% of supply chain executives cite hiring and retaining qualified workers as their biggest challenge—even surpassing material shortages and disruptions.

While technology can fill some of these gaps, it cannot do so alone. Combining innovative solutions and proactive workforce development is essential to alleviating holiday supply chain stress. That’s where PartnerLinQ comes in—a platform designed to transform your supply chain by integrating technology with your team’s capabilities.

Here are some serious facts:

What’s causing the holiday chaos?

1. Labor Shortages Across the Continuum

   • A U.S. Chamber of Commerce analysis found that even if every unemployed person with experience in durable goods manufacturing was employed, only 75% of vacant jobs could be filled.
   • Shortages in critical areas like logistics, warehouse management, and trucking exacerbate delays and inefficiencies.

2. Increased Pressure from Demand Spikes

   • The holiday season amplifies demand across industries, with retail, manufacturing, and distribution hit hardest.
   • Delays in port loading/unloading, stockouts, and shipping bottlenecks cascade downstream to retailers and customers.

3. Manual Processes

   • Despite increasing investment in automation, 70% of supply chain leaders still rely on manual processes, according to Capgemini. This reliance creates inefficiencies and hampers scalability.

Who helps clear the chaos?

PartnerLinQ streamlines supply chain operations, helping businesses like yours tackle holiday season challenges with ease. By simplifying the partner onboarding process through its Common Processing Workflow and exclusive "white glove" onboarding service, PartnerLinQ ensures rapid integration at the speed of business. With its intuitive Business Rule Manager, the platform facilitated the migration of over 1,000 partners and customers in just 12 weeks, demonstrating its swift and efficient integration capability.

Built on a scalable Azure-based hybrid cloud architecture, PartnerLinQ handles transaction volumes that ensure clients like a leading American transport and logistics company can process nearly 800,000 daily transactions—double their current requirements. This scalability empowers the company’s expanding carrier network without compromising performance. 

PartnerLinQ simplifies IT infrastructure by seamlessly integrating with legacy systems and new TMS platforms. It eliminates extra licensing and enables greater operational efficiency through real-time updates and actionable insights.

Enhanced visibility enables clients to deliver consistent customer value at every touchpoint. Armed with service-level improvements, accelerated onboarding, and a better customer experience, our clients confidently continue to meet their service-level commitments, ensuring a smooth and stress-free holiday supply chain operation.

This is what PartnerLinQ does:

• Mitigate Labor Shortages: Automate 60-80% of repetitive supply chain tasks to maximize workforce productivity.
• Improve Efficiency: Reduce operational delays by up to 30% with AI-driven optimization.
• Scalability: Handle surges in demand during the holiday season without compromising speed or quality.
• Resiliency: Proactively address disruptions, minimizing their impact on downstream operations.

Time to Enjoy: Include PartnerLinQ as Your Holiday Lifeline

The holiday season doesn’t have to be synonymous with supply chain headaches. PartnerLinQ offers a comprehensive solution to navigate labor shortages, demand spikes, and operational bottlenecks by combining advanced automation with workforce enablement.

As the MHI report highlights, 74% of supply chain executives are increasing technology investments, and PartnerLinQ ensures that every dollar spent delivers measurable ROI.

Have I got your attention yet? If not, see how we do it.