When you enter any freight forwarding/shipping/NVOCC office today, you are bound to realise something: irrespective of the world turning to AI and automation, in our logistics industry, communication is still very much grounded in emails.
Whether you consider bookings or delivery orders or rate confirmations – they all flow through long threads of email, buried deep in attachments, and updated manually in Excel spreadsheets.
When questioned about their dependence on emails, the industry often comes back with its standard response: “This is how we have always done things.” or sometimes, “Why pay for new systems when emails work just fine.” However, the reality is that emails are not really free. They are quietly expensive.
At first thought, emails appear cost-effective due to their ease of onboarding, lack of implementation risk, and no subscription charges.
But ask yourself, what about all the time wasted looking for the latest version of a rate, or missed emails resulting in detention charges or issues due to unclear communication trails? When we start tallying these costs, the cost of operational efficiency against the cost of software begins to look steeper.
The honest truth – The industry fears change. This resistance to change often results in fragmentated networks, so even if a shipping company were to pilot and adopt a new software or communication tool, the rest of their supply chain would be unwilling to come on board. In the long run, this results in system failure.
The bottom line is that technology works, only when all stakeholders participate.
How Do we Navigate this Issue
While I don’t recommend instantly heading into a 360° digital transformation, here are some ways to start out:
- Do a Pilot Test in One Department
Instead of transforming the entire company, start with one department or trade lane. For instance, consider automating booking confirmations for your Jebal Ali – Mundra lane or digitise records only for export operations. Once this process is complete, track changes in staff hours saved, average response times, client satisfaction, error rates etc.
In short, pilot first, scale later.
- Ask yourself: How much is inefficiency costing the company?
Although worth considering, I would suggest trying to shift your focus from the software cost, and towards the cost of operational inefficiencies.
Ask yourself, what is the cost of:
- delayed decisions?
- missed deadlines?
- slow response times?
Technology becomes a strategic investment, and less of a cost, when leaders begin viewing operational inefficiencies as financial metrics.
- Consider integrating new systems, not replacing emails altogether
It’s unreasonable to think that we could do away with emails overnight. What is possible though, is using tools that seamlessly integrate with existing workflows, introducing simple, shared portals that partners can easily access, and choosing interoperable systems with API capabilities.
In the end, the goal is to promote gradual collaboration instead of forced migration.
