Digital freight brokerage firm Edge Logistics has welcomed its new Chief Technology Officer, Bridget Quinlan, to help build on the innovation powering the company’s rapid strides in the brokerage business. With over 20 years of experience in the technology realm, Quinlan has successfully led teams across a broad range of verticals, including cybersecurity, system architecture, and infrastructure.
With its excessive fragmentation and propensity to be a ‘hands-on’ business, the brokerage market has largely remained insulated from technology penetration, as stakeholders have relied heavily on manual processes, phone calls, and paperwork. The emergence of digital freight brokerage firms like Edge Logistics has enabled the industry to gradually open up to tech-forward solutions to streamline operations and improve efficiency.
While many consider this a challenging landscape, Quinlan believes the industry is filled with opportunities for the taking. “Edge Logistics has had impressive growth in the nine years of its existence. We have a foundation in place and a leadership that has been aggressive yet smart in terms of strategically driving growth,” she said. “I’m thrilled to be part of our incredible team of experts who are passionate about serving our customers with our proven processes and world-class technology.”
For Quinlan, technology is more than just an enabler; it serves as a catalyst for transformative change within the brokerage industry. She explained that while it is easy for companies to be consumed with the bits and bytes of grassroots innovation, the bigger picture lies in how the technology is leveraged to touch every facet of the organization.
“Not many other business functions get the opportunity to truly understand every corner of the business — the cross-functional impacts and how it all contributes to the whole,” said Quinlan. “To be the best at what we do requires everyone to really understand all the different business processes and how they work together to consistently deliver outstanding products and excellent customer service. That's the part I love the most about being in technology.”
Strategic implementation of technology is vital. With experience building tech solutions and leading teams to achieve targets on tight schedules, Quinlan brings the best of both worlds together. “Projects seldom, if ever, go exactly as planned. You’ll have a plan A, you’ll have a plan B, you'll have a plan C, and then you will still end up figuring out a plan D on the fly. My project management experience, coupled with a wide-ranging background in the different components of technology, helps me in those situations to know how and when to pivot to achieve the desired outcomes.”
Knowing when and how to pivot is crucial for sustaining success in an industry marked by volatility and a constantly shifting status quo. Change management — a process helping organizations transition from their current state to a desired future state effectively — has found significant traction in the industry today, thanks to the increasing recognition of the need for adaptability in the face of evolving market dynamics.
At Edge, the idea of change management is to keep our team mobilized and primed to face market uncertainties while leveraging technology to streamline the change process. Quinlan contended that the imperative is not just about being focused on making the technology adequate but giving thought to the people who use it.
“We can deploy the most cutting-edge, transformative technology, but if they don't understand why and how it is transformative, they're not going to use it — or they're not going to use it properly,” Quinlan said. “Good change management is about having people you're building the technology for with you throughout the journey. To show them the steps so they're as excited about it as the technologists building it.”
Our CAPACITY solution aims to do exactly that — provide an intuitive experience that adapts to its users' unique needs and preferences. By design, CAPACITY is user-friendly and customizable, allowing each member of the brokerage process, whether it's the shippers, carriers, or logistics teams, to have a seamless and tailored experience.
“My job is to help elevate the experience and make it even better than it already is,” Quinlan said. “The foundation for this evolution is already in place: our team has the processes, skills and drive to build and deploy transformational technology. We’ll pair this with my background in technology strategy and execution. I am really excited about what we’ll accomplish together.”
There is a reason why Edge Logistics remains one of the nation's fastest-growing freight brokerage companies. We hire outrageously talented people to lead our customer-focused teams in providing world-class technologies in logistics and transportation services throughout North America.
We invite you to familiarize yourself with some of our recent team hires who are crucial in driving our capability to deliver innovative technologies in logistics and transportation services across North America. Bringing Bridget Quinlan on board as CTO is the latest example. Here are a few more:
If you’re ready to join our award-winning, collaborative culture, view our job openings today.