Second annual list recognizes 196 private companies that put purpose before profit
FourKites®, the world’s leading real-time supply chain visibility platform, has been named to the Inc. 2021 Best in Business list in the Logistics and Transportation category. Inc.’s Best in Business Awards honor companies that have gone above and beyond to make a positive impact. FourKites, one of just four companies recognized in the Logistics & Transportation sector, earned the Silver medal for its role in keeping supply chains moving over the course of the last year.
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Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc., says, “What began for us during the pandemic as an effort to showcase companies that were helping the community has grown into a recognition of social, environmental, and economic impact. The companies on this year’s list are changemakers with heart — and they’re pouring the best of their business into the people and communities around them.” The list, which can be found in the Winter issue of Inc. magazine, recognizes small- and medium-size privately held American businesses that have had an outstanding influence on their communities, their industries, the environment or society as a whole.
While COVID-19 continued to cause severe supply chain challenges throughout 2021, FourKites played a pivotal role in keeping goods moving, and the company introduced several new solutions to help customers remain agile in the face of increased volatility. These innovations included:
- The announcement of FourKites’ global partnership with Cardinal Health to build a cognitive supply chain. FourKites serves as the central data hub for all Cardinal Health shipments, creating a fast and reliable experience for the 29,000 pharmacies and nearly 90% of American hospitals that depend upon Cardinal Health for critical supplies. With FourKites’ data-driven insights, Cardinal Health has proactively managed inventory to ensure that service levels remain at the absolute highest levels possible, despite inevitable supply chain disruptions. FourKites and Cardinal Health also collaborated to build a new courier tracking solution to specifically address the unique requirements for healthcare products that need precise temperature controls and “white glove treatment” during transport.
“Delivery of healthcare products directly impacts patient care, and it is critical that these products reach their destinations on time,” said Josh Dolan, SVP of Pharmaceutical Operations at Cardinal Health. “Transparency helps build trust in the connection between the Cardinal Health supply chain and our customers. Our partnership with FourKites will provide end-to-end visibility of products in transit, allowing for necessary adjustments to provide a seamless experience for our customers and help them better serve their patients.”
- The rollout of FourKites’ live Network Congestion Map — free and available to the public — that tracks cross-border freight movements across North America, Mexico and Europe; port delays at over 230 ports globally; interstate transit metrics; and average wait times for trucks and ships. The map provides real-time visibility into delays so that companies and state governments can act proactively to plan and optimize their supply chain operations.
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“We’re pleased to be recognized by Inc.’s 2021 Best in Business List, which we see as recognition of the efforts of our entire community, including our employees, customers and partners alike,” said FourKites founder and CEO Mathew Elenjickal. “Distributing critical products comes with many complexities — security, temperature control, trade challenges, multiple geographies and transportation modes, transit times, carrier capacity and more — and we were happy that we were able to do our part to keep critical goods moving despite the many challenges of the pandemic and other disruptions.”
Rather than relying on quantitative criteria tied to sales or funding, Inc.’s editors reviewed the companies’ achievements over the past year and noted how they made a positive difference in the world. They then selected honorees in more than 49 different industries — from finance to software to engineering to fashion, and more — and in age-based and revenue-based categories. The applicant pool was extremely competitive, with around 2,700 entries and an acceptance rate in the low single digits — a huge success for these honors in the list’s second year. Honorees for gold, silver, bronze and general excellence across industries and categories are featured online at inc.com/best-in-business.