10 ways freight forwarders are benefiting from real-time visibility

The digital solutions manager at one freight forwarder said they had been searching for a solution to gather data and enrich its shipments in terms of visibility and traceability. He said they found Wakeo to be the “perfect solution to provide multimodal visibility across sea, air and road with reliable data that comes in directly to our TMS”.

The company’s CIO highlighted how valuable it was to be able to predict ETAs. “In 90% of cases, we are now able to forecast the proper arrival date nine days ahead. That is a lot of value when every day clients are basically looking at where their cargo is and when it’s going to be delivered.”

The director general of another freight forwarder said: “Knowing exactly when your shipment is departing and when your shipment is supposed to arrive is crucial information, particularly when you have huge volumes to organize.”

He said the high-level of connectivity with his business’ global logistics platform, CargoWise, was another plus, with the systems communicating both ways. “The productivity of our employees and the satisfaction of customers has improved and the cost of implementation has already been largely compensated,” he added.

The business development head at another freight forwarder said it took just two months to take the solution to market, and it had already made 15% direct gains in productivity, as well as indirect gains including increased customer satisfaction.

“Wakeo’s team is made up of real experts in international transport flows,” he said. “This was a game-changer for the understanding of our business and our communication during the project.”

The Group CIO at a third business said his company had achieved a 250% return on investment within the first year of using the platform. He also highlighted a more than 90% improvement in data quality as a result of automated processes, greatly improved resource management and the removal of manual processes.

“We selected this best-in-class visibility solution in a pragmatic innovation approach to put data at the heart of our transformation. Leveraging Wakeo’s expertise and connectivity enables our experts to leverage reliable data to make strategic decisions and bring value-added services to our customers."

All three have taken advantage of the ‘white-label solution’ offered, which means they can decide how the platform is branded to their users.

In addition to all of the above benefits, another advantage being enjoyed by one is the use of new and co-developed features such as the carbon footprint calculator and a booking tool.

Next steps

Each relationship with the freight forwarders is a long-term partnership designed to generate operational value for both them and their shipping customers. To that end there are plans to make yet further improvements. 

One company said it aims to increase its level of digitalization further and provide customers a new experience through a customer platform. “We have a great day-to-day relationship with Wakeo and speak to them regularly to try to improve the experience yet further.”

Another described it as only the “beginning of a long-term and ambitious partnership based on core visioning and core value.” 

“We are investing in technology to create new services in the freight forwarding industry and stay one step ahead of the market,” they added. “We are extremely excited about all of the projects that we have together as part of our co-development programme. We would choose Wakeo a hundred times over.”