DIGITAL
DISTRIBUTION
hearing from our customers
loud and clear that they
needed some breadth in our
distribution offering. Today, we
are distributing predominantly
from traditional means –
telephone, e-mail, customer
service centre – and our
competitors and JV partners
were deploying their own dot
com solutions.” In moving to
deploy a dot com proposition,
the carrier announced its
move to Accenture’s AFLS
Platform. The programme has
now been running for 10 or 12
months. “It’s a multi-million
dollar investment in our base
technology. We’re going to
deliver this in February, and
that will deliver this step
change in our distribution
capability,” he explains.
Changing the distribution
model has been about much
more than simply going online,
Kennedy continues. “When we
started to solicit feedback from
our customers we found that,
for certain larger customers,
host-to-host was key. If you’re
a freight forwarder, you’ve got
your own in-house system and
you’re booking a job in that
system but still having to call
an airline to confi rm the job.
Offering a dot com might be
quicker than having to call
but you’re still having to step
out of your system and that
is ineffi cient. They want to be
able to put that job in their
system, and for their system
to talk to the airline’s system.
That very quickly became
involved in the requirement,”
he explains. “So I’ll be really
interested to see how the
distribution space changes.”
Digital should and will
become business as usual he
asserts. “I want dot com or
direct connectivity to be our
primary reach to market.
“I can say for certain in the
distribution space that we are going to see a very quick change.
There are a number of frontrunners in this space that are already
offering that effi ciency to customers and are continuing to invest,”
he concludes.
Tipping point
WebCargo by Freightos CEO, Manel Galindo, comments on the
sudden uptick in the digitalisation of distribution services. “It’s
taken over fi ve decades for electronic air cargo booking to catch
up with passenger travel. Almost exactly a year ago we made
history with Lufthansa, unveiling instant air cargo e-booking for
1,000 plus forwarders with the German airline,” he says, noting
that more and more major airlines are following suit.
“Since the industry can only be as digital as the lowest
common denominator, air connectivity must be barrier-free.
Carriers are fi nally acknowledging this and now need to work
quickly to close the digital gap in cargo booking,” he asserts.
“This is only the beginning for air cargo. Believe it or not,
dynamic pricing is still incredibly rare among cargo airlines,
while passenger airlines have had it for decades.
“And, despite the tremendous strides logistics providers have
made to become fully online, carriers must be able to connect
with them, or we aren’t going to move the industry needle and
revolutionise the shipper experience.”
With Freightos moving to offer IATA-certifi ed freight
forwarders free access to rates and real-time e-booking on select
airlines via its WebCargo Sky platform as of June, progress
towards the mainstream digitalisation of these services is evident.
Says Zvi Schreiber, CEO of the Freightos Group, “By providing
WebCargo Sky for free to air forwarders, there are zero barriers
for forwarders and airlines to communicate online through
WebCargo. This will provide better service to air shippers,
including capacity visibility on specifi c fl ights.”
Schreiber predicts that by next year air cargo will routinely
be priced dynamically and booked digitally. This will reduce
costs and enable sales teams to focus on customer service,
while airlines will benefi t from access to an online network of
forwarders, signifi cantly cutting the time spent managing sales.
“Ultimately shippers will benefi t most, with air cargo becoming
more affordable and predictable,” he asserts.
Benefi ts to global trade
Working with digital interfaces that enable on-demand logistics
procurement, Freightos believes that logistics professionals have
the power to enable more frictionless global trade.
“WebCargo by Freightos’ suite of digital logistics sales
solutions for carriers or forwarders, or Freightos’ tools for
importers and exporters, are all predicated on the idea that
APIs across carriers, forwarders, and importers can drive faster,
automated, more effi cient trade,” Galindo explains. “Offering live
rates, capacity availability, and e-bookings positions carriers to
maximise revenue and create new opportunities for forwarders to
take advantage of low pricing, due to excess capacity, and offer
shippers guaranteed fl ights and faster transit times. Once carriers
have become fully digital, the possibilities are endless.”
shippers will
benefi t most, with
air cargo becoming
more affordable
and predictable
Zvi Schreiber, CEO, Freightos Group
32 October 2019 www.airlogisticsinternational.com
/www.airlogisticsinternational.com