Technology has been playing a very significant role in human upliftment. Be it surpassing the war crisis, enabling the access of the eastern horizon to the west, or the transgressing age-old problems with future-proof solutions, the technological innovations have surprised the world.
Ushering with this understanding, the business community has always been scouting closets that consist of problems and are yet unresolved. Encountering the business challenge becomes the first. The second is to encompass all the stakeholders of the problem and facilitate them with a solution that not only satisfies the demanding urge of the business community but also advances technological support while enhancing the user experience too. As a final hammer to technological excellence in the logistics space, businesses have ushered with ERP platform enabling quick and easy operations.
Today, cloud-based systems are integrating the Air Logistics industry while facilitating a seamless experience. One such logistics company driving the transformative wheel in the air cargo segment is e-CARGOWARE.
Spearheading this transformation is Mr. Ramesh Darbha. He is the Co-founder and CEO of the company and has an enriched experience and leading the business world with his technological excellence.
Let’s dive into the interview where Ramesh sheds light on the e-CARGOWARE’s key offerings and his business acumen that led the company to achieve its desired success.
Below are the interview highlights
Please brief our audience about your company, its USPs, and how it is currently positioned as one of the most reliable companies in the logistics space.
e-CARGOWARE helps Airlines, handlers, and sales agents to digitize their cargo operations using our cloud-based FR8Manage – ERP platform and suite of FR8 Apps.
Our platform is easy to use and is dashboard driven thus significantly reducing the training costs for our users.
Air cargo is a fragmented industry with large players offering a ‘seamless end-to-end integration and visibility across the supply chain’ with a huge financial backing to invest in IT Systems whilst the smaller players rely on legacy technology solutions.
We plug the gap between the smaller and larger players by providing a scalable digital platform that is cost-effective for our customers to compete with the large players and are doing our part by creating a level playing field for the small and medium-size air cargo service providers to compete with superior digital solutions and process thus moving our industry towards a less fragmented market.
Shed some light on your offerings and how they impact the industry and your clients?
At the core of our offering is FR8 Manage – a comprehensive cargo ERP platform for Airlines, Airports (Cargo Handlers), and General sales agents. It’s intuitive and easy to use and is in use at several locations globally to manage their cargo operations. FR8 Manage helps our customers to reduce repeat activities and increase their productivity.
Our FR8 Apps – Suite of products is designed to expand the digital offering of our customers and seamlessly integrates with any cargo ERP platforms. Some of the key products in this suite include
FR8 Quote: An Artificial Intelligence / NLP-based email plugin to automate and digitally transform the quotation dialogue between Airlines and Forwarders. It expedites quote requests thus improving the productivity of Sales staff and slowly converts the interaction between forwarders and airlines to online platforms.
FR8 Booking Platform: A self-service online Sales platform for Forwarders to compare and book airfreight shipments with our customers.
What are the core values upon which your company is built?
We are a firm believer that every business is unique no matter how similar their product offering is compared to their competitors. We work with our customers to provide a solution that is specific for their business, and we tend to partner with our customers to function as their extended technology partner.
Please brief us about the featured person’s (s) journey in the industry and how they have contributed to the company’s success.
Featured Persons: Mr. Ramesh Darbha & Mr. Arun Singh
Co-founders – Arun and Ramesh have started the company with a vision to offer a cost-effective digital ERP platform and FR8 tools powered by AI to the Airfreight industry. They play an active and hands-on role in defining the product vision and tech positioning of the platform.
With deep technology and domain experience, Ramesh is hands-on, involved in all aspects of the business, and is responsible for leadership, strategy, and execution. Whilst Arun with several decades experience in the Air Logistics domain is responsible for developing key commercial relationships and also provides overall product strategy and guidance.
Being an experienced leader, share your opinion on how the adoption of modern technologies has impacted the logistics industry and how is your company riding the technology wave?
The Air Logistics industry was often considered less glamorous under the belly operations of an Airline whilst the passenger side is classier. However, during a pandemic when the global travel came to halt and airlines were struggling to stay afloat it was the Air logistics that’s kept the airlines operating and is now at the forefront of digitalization, and Air cargo [logistics] is one of the key growth drivers for an airline to remain competitive.
e-CARGOWARE was born in the cloud and we constantly innovate and stay ahead of our competition. In addition, we being an independent, agile, and innovative digital partner, it was an obvious choice for our customers to select us as their technology partner for their current and future needs as the logistics industry continues to embrace digitization.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the logistics space?
Logistics is the backbone of world trade and one of the largest employers however the industry is still considered a laggard in adopting new technologies. If you have a genuine interest in making a difference to world trade and have a belief in yourself, it is now the time to venture into this space and never look back.
How do you envision scaling your organization’s operations and offerings in 2022 and beyond?
With increased focus on the logistics, specifically in the Air Logistics market, as one of the preferred digital platform providers in the industry, we are expecting significant growth in 2022 and beyond. To support our growth strategy, we are expanding our customer success team. We are also investing in R&D to help our customers avail the advancements of AI & ML to streamline their operational processes and improve the productivity of their staff.