Forwarding technology providers are partnering to provide complementary, browser-based tools for small forwarders that lack the budget to build broad software platforms themselves. Photo credit. Shutterstock.com.
The international forwarding alliance Worldwide Independent Network (WIN) will use the combined software of logistics solutions providers Qwyk and SimpliShip to help its members manage online interactions with customers and back-end functions such as ocean and air rate and schedule management.
The agreement, announced last week, shows the opportunities small forwarders have to use browser-based tools to catch up, capability-wise, with well-funded larger competitors. It’s also a sign that software partnerships, integrated via application programming interfaces (APIs), are becoming the preferred way to deliver value to such customers.
Qwyk and SimpliShip announced a partnership in January that tethered SimpliShip’s rate marketplace to Qwyk’s sailing schedules database, joint capability the companies said provides a de-facto transportation management system (TMS) for forwarders. The two companies have already landed the Asia-based forwarding network AI Logistics Alliance as a customer, and now add WIN’s 85 members from 77 countries.
Collectively, WIN members manage 1.3 million cubic meters of less-than-container load (LCL) cargo, more than 800,000 TEU of full container load cargo, and more than 300,000 tons of air freight cargo.
“Competition is not sleeping,” Jacques Abouzeid, WIN’s vice chairman, said in a statement. “We see what the multinational forwarders do. We as WIN want to enable our members to play in this league and with this project, we want to get there in a very short period.”
Tapping into networks of small and medium-sized forwarders through existing alliances is becoming a key customer acquisition channel for software providers targeting the forwarding industry. These networks generally give members access to a set of overseas partners as well as financial, legal, and insurance support.
Arming small forwarders with tech
They have in recent years endeavored to provide members with technology solutions as well, with some creating their own software, such as Centrolene, and others turning to outsourced software. A similar provider, Parnity, is attempting to arm a network of forwarders in Latin America with technology tools.
“We’re building a platform allowing the customer to use our capabilities in front end, schedules and platform-building, combining that with SimpliShip’s rate management and quoting capabilities as well as various other pieces of the puzzle such as having integrations with the [forwarders’] various TMSs and [enterprise resource planning systems],” Qwyk CEO Martyn Verhaegen said in the statement.
Qwyk and SimpliShip have a partnership with system integration specialist Chain.io to connect their systems with the various TMSs and ERPs used by their customers, including WIN members, they said.
The spectrum of forwarding-enabling technology providers has widened considerably in recent years, with some, such as Kontainers, focusing on providing forwarders an online customer engagement and quoting platform, and others, such as Logixboard, focusing more on back-end operational efficiency and visibility to provide analytics platforms to shipper customers.
Contact Eric Johnson at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter: @LogTechEric.
