Digital Transformation in the Freight Forwarding Industry

The Global Forwarding Industry powers the supply chain and enables global trade. It provides the means for globalization to function, from sourcing parts and other materials overseas, to the manufacturing point, to the final mile delivery. Global Forwarding is the engine behind the Global Supply Chain.

While other industries enjoy higher returns, the Freight Forwarding Industry is suffering from low net margin returns, and lack of investments in technology. Often using old legacy systems that was developed decades ago. Some companies have tried but have painfully found out that technology transformation projects are very difficult and there is a long list of examples of failed initiatives. This has further drained their financial resources with little to show and still far away from their strategic goals.

Traditional IT projects do not cut it anymore, it is not enough to implement a new operations system or a scattered web presence. In order for freight forwarders to be successful and truly transform their business to be part of the future and the 4th industrial revolution, a carefully thought out digital transformation strategy is needed.

“When digital transformation is done right, it’s like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.”

George Westerman | Principal Research Scientist | MIT
Author | “Leading Digital: Turning Technology Into Business Transformation”

FreightTech & LogTech Solutions

We have deep expertise and experience in the Transportation, Freight-forwarding & Logistics sectors and we love solving complex challenges with software. We build, manage and modernize your applications, infrastructure and platforms to ensure that you derive the most value possible.

3PL/4PL Strategy Advisory & Consulting

Supply chain optimization, strategic insight & management

Cloud Implementation & Acceleration

Cloud strategy, consulting & execution which supercharges your IT

Supply Chain including Last Mile Solutions

Decrease cost, ensure transparency and efficiency, improve infrastructure

Warehouse Management Development & Solutions

Automate and integrate processes to optimize operations

TMS Development, Automation, Extensions & Integrations

Simplify communication, automate data flow, increase transparency and control

Tailormade Data Platform for the Supply Chain

Gain insight, extract additional value and uncover new possibilities

Predict the future with AI and Machine Learning

Consider additional variables and make well-informed decisions

Proof of Concepts around IoT, Blockchain and others

See what is possible with emerging tech and gain the benefits

ALL ROADS LEAD TO DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

“The last ten years of IT have been about changing the way people work. The next ten years of IT will be about transforming your business.”

Aaron Levie | CEO | box

1. FIRST, WE EDUCATE STAKEHOLDERS ON WHAT DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION MEANS AND WHAT IS POSSIBLE

Digital transformation is the process of using digital technologies (especially cloud) to create new – or modify existing – business processes, cultures, and customer experiences to meet changing business and market requirements and also to realize new lines of business.

This reimagining of business in the digital age is digital transformation.

2. NEXT, WE LOOK AT HOW YOU CAN LEVERAGE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

How can processes be changed so that you enable data-driven decision-making, game-changing efficiencies & automation, or a better customer experience with more personalization?

How will your customer needs change as we head to the “New Normal”? How will you shift and manage your costs and operations to variable structures to prepare and adapt to an increasing volatile and dynamic world?

3. THEN, WE IDENTIFY WHAT DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AND SOLUTIONS PROVIDE THE MOST VALUE FOR YOUR BUSINESS

In our experience, leveraging the cloud with a cloud-first mindset and applying a clear data-first mindset yield the highest return on investment!

This is just the start though and depending on the direction of the overall strategy there are many other tactical solutions that must be looked into. One example is platforms, how can you bring together customers, suppliers and other stakeholders to conduct business on your own digital platform?

4. LASTLY, WE BUILD YOUR STRATEGIC DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY

Now that we have collected all facts and we have a common understanding of digital transformation and what can be made possible, we add your aspirations to the mix, and build your digital transformation roadmap.

All of this is conducted by our partner consultants, people with at least 20 years of experience in the industry. We have plenty of battle scars, we know what works and what doesn’t. Plus, we’re nice people 🙂

QLOUDX BRINGS VALUE TO YOUR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

AUTOMATION: We enable businesses to do more with less. By focusing on streamlining and automating your core business processes, we will allow more time for your teams to focus on generating value for the business through innovation.

ANALYTICS: We leverage advanced cloud technologies to combine data from all your customer interactions and unstructured sources to provide you business insights that allow you to make better sense of your business.

CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT & PLATFORM THINKING: We’re advocates of platform thinking because they facilitate new ways to engage with your customers, by using their respective scalable network processes, and by aggregating and analyzing the data of it all.

DATA FIRST: Data is the new oil, and we believe a data-first approach should be considered when making any strategic decisions. This requires a big cultural change in an organization, where data needs to be properly prepared, organized, stored and ultimately, leveraged. 

CLOUD FIRST: A paradigm shift where we prioritize the cloud over other approaches to IT challenges, we want you to scale up and down and consume services very quickly in line with  your business requirements.

CASE STUDIES

CASE STUDY I:

STRATEGIC DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ASSESSMENT

A European trucking company wanted to assess the overall health of its strategies to determine how technology could be differentiator and an enabler, in order to accomplish its strategic goals for 2022 and beyond.

One of our senior consultants (former global CIO and a QloudX partner) took charge of this strategic digital assessment.

More Details…

CASE STUDY II:

AUTOMATION OF VENDOR INVOICES & BOOKINGS

A European transportation provider wanted to automate its processes relating to vendor invoices and bookings, in order to save man-hours and free up staff for other tasks, reduce errors and minimize staff involvement.

More De\tails…

HOW TO GET STARTED

HENRIK LUND – PARTNER 

To start your digital transformation journey, contact Henrik at godigital@qloudx.com or +41 79 942 23 14.

Henrik has a career spanning more than 30 years in the Global Freight Forwarding Industry working for some of the largest Global Freight Forwarding organizations. For more details, check his full bio.

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