A great case study in "quantify the cost of inaction before pricing your product

Not building in ports/logistics myself, but this breakdown of Terminal Operating System (TOS) ROI is a genuinely good template for anyone selling B2B software into an industry that's slow to modernize.

The core insight: buyers almost never ask "what does the current broken process cost us?" — they only ask "what does the new tool cost?" That framing kills a lot of deals that should be no-brainers.

The article walks through a concrete example: a mid-size port terminal loses ~$14.4M/year just from vessel idle time caused by poor coordination, plus another ~$8M from inefficient crane repositioning — against a $3-8M five-year implementation cost. When you frame it as "$22M/year left on the table" vs. "$3-8M investment," the sales conversation completely changes.

Takeaway for anyone selling into ops-heavy industries (logistics, manufacturing, healthcare ops, etc.): build a cost-of-inaction calculator as part of your sales motion, not just a feature comparison. It reframes procurement from "expense" to "recovered revenue."

Full piece here if you want the actual numbers/methodology: https://theintechgroup.com/blog/terminal-operating-system-roi/