When does real-time visibility matter, and when does predictive?

They answer different jobs, so neither is universally better. Real-time visibility is about the present: it tells you where a shipment is now and shortens the time to react when something is already going wrong, which matters most for logistics-heavy, service-sensitive flows. Predictive visibility is about the near future: it surfaces stockout and excess risk while there is still time to act, which matters most when the pain is inventory and availability.

In practice the two are complementary: real-time keeps today's promises, predictive prevents tomorrow's problems, and the strongest setups connect them, so a live signal like a delay feeds the forward plan of what to reorder or reallocate.