It’s been a while since the world entered the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”, which refers to a digital revolution. Everything is changing. There is a new way of doing everything, from the simplest thing to the most complex one. All of our lives depend now on electronic devices, systems and internet. So, can the international shipping industry escaping from it? No, it can’t! Take a look at the reasons why digital revolution in international shipping is unstoppable.
The big influence of eCommerce, tied to advances in operational technologies, has taken logistics to become a very interesting field to develop competitive differentiation. It plays a fundamental role in supply chain performance, as it adds value to business and customers.
Recently the international shipping industry has been under a lot of pressure for many reasons:
- Customers are demanding a better experience and faster answers.
- The demand is presenting several fluctuations.
- Transportation costs are increasing.
- There has been freight capacity issues, and so on.
Therefore, there’s an imminent need to open up the flow of information in every possible way in the supply chain, which is leading to a digital revolution. The key to success will rely on choosing the right partners, that can offer the infrastructure and technologies required to support this changes on business models.
Digital inclusion on this field is making logistics processes more agile, innovative, costs efficient and optimized in the most profitable way. It is only a matter of time before the digital revolution in international shipping takes off and changes the industry forever.
Do you still wonder why is the digital revolution in international shipping unstoppable?
We can sum it up in four reasons why:
1. Real time information: Customers don’t want to wait for days to get a quote, book their shipment or know where the shipment is. Pricing and operational processes are antiquated and they slow down the customer service. Digital revolution in international shipping is improving rates and shipment visibility, which is renovating the quoting process and customer experience. With the right solution, like the one we offer at Cargofive, freight forwarders can create quotes in minutes, speeding up the time they take to answer to their buyers.
2. World’s fast evolution: With the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” the world has been changing. People are modifying their behaviors:
- There’s a new way of doing everything.
- Everybody uses technology everyday, at anytime, to do anything.
- There’s access to information on real-time.
- Communication is open and fast with most people.
- Everyone looks for everything online.
No business can stay out of this since they are being run by the same people that are choosing another way of living. All enterprises have to find the way to adapt to this digital revolution.
3. The increasingly use of digital tools: To manage a simple freight, forwarders need to coordinate with several different providers at the same time, who are working in different time zones, languages and cultures. This complexity level explains why there is such a low efficiency in their processes, which is at the same time promoting the search of options to work this issue out.
New digital tools, Cargofive for instance, make all of this coordination easier, automatic and optimized. Using this solution freight forwarders can have real-time access to data, sales process visibility, and optimize their business (lower costs, more profit) to be actually efficient.
4. Customer service: On this new era, all people want is to have a good experience anywhere they go and with anything they buy. Therefore, it is more common to have this kind of requirement even on freights industry, which is making business move into a different direction to respond to this concern. Digital revolution is changing the customer service, so that every part of the supply chain can offer a much better experience to their clients. There is no doubt about it.
In other words, digital revolution in international shipping is unstoppable because it helps companies to automate and optimize their processes. This will lead them to be more focused on their sales and developing competitive differences, rather than spending most of their time just quoting.
The future is now and all of those who want to survive on this digital era, should be already using technology to their benefit. More important, the real revolution starts with logistic experts using one single platform to manage their entire freight journey. At Cargofive, we are more than willing to help with it and to take this industry to another level.
