SFLClient
As the Largest independent neutral consolidator in Southern Africa, headquartered in South Africa, the client offers global inbound & outbound services, as well as transport and warehousing solutions.
Problem
The customer has several overseas partners not using CargoWise One and due to the complexity of the consolidation requirements, where a single consolidation consists of over 20 shipments, the customer’s operations team was strained to re-key all the shipment data into their CargoWise One software.
This was compounded with the difficulty in finding skilled labour in Africa and training new staff who were familiar with CargoWise One. Recruitment and training was time consuming and as the company sought to scale their operations, they required an alternative solution to keying in shipment data that didn’t cause a strain on their operations.
Additionally, the company was also facing delays in data entry into the system, where data was entered just prior to the cargo arrival which prevented them from having the visibility and data required to preemptively plan.
Promotional rates to circulate on new trade lanes also needed to be updated and volatile market conditions requiring constant update of rates to customers was challenging with the existing manpower. Rate Procurement Staff were held up with preparing rate sheets which affected their ability to spend time optimizing box profitability.
Solution
SFL’s BPO service was offered to the client as a solution to free up time of the operational team. By dedicating 2 staff positioned in India who were already trained on using the CargoWise One software, import documentation of shipment and consolidation was sent to SFL to create shipments. This enabled the operations team time to focus on better planning as well as observing and managing exceptions.
Back office support was extended to provide 2 trained staff for the customer’s rates and tariffs requirement. Maintaining and updating promotional rates to the customer’s clients was handled offshore, providing visibility to the customer’s operations team to auto-rate in the rates and tariffs module.
Currently, SFL continues to increase automation by introducing its Optical Character Reading technology to capture payable invoices, including a validation of accrual vs actual cost. By automating, the customer is able to leverage machine learning to improve accuracy and speed.
Benefits
264 Hours Time Saved on Data Entry for import documentation.
132 Hours Time Saved on Rate Updates.
4 Trained and Dedicated Resources Provided.
