The accelerators
Digitalisation catching up in the aviation industry
CEO Matthieu Petot founded CargoAi in 2019. Veteran David Lara, who joined the advisory board of the ambitious IT services provider from Singapore recently (see ITJ Daily of 31 August 2021), joined Petot to analyse where the sector’s signposts are pointing.
After 48 years in the industry, Mr Lara, the last 20 with Ceva Logistics, you retired eleven months ago. How did CargoAi reactivate your desire to contribute?
David Lara: My conversations with Matt impressed me, especially the vision and strategy CargoAi has to provide end-to-end solutions in their simplest form. This subject is close to my heart and I feel that Matt and CargoAi have the right approach, the right team as well as the right tools to deliver.
In a recent press release you said you “share CargoAi’s values”. What are they?
DL: We both have a willingness to learn from others and to create opportunities together. CargoAi is completely oriented towards people and focuses on the user experience. It’s not just a simple e-booking platform, it has much higher ambitions to add value for customers. We’re driven by the will to create and innovate and to thus provide pragmatic, open and simple solutions for the air cargo community. The challenge is to bring the industry forward.
Mr Petot, what does it mean for CargoAi to have David Lara and other members united in your new board of advisors?
Matthieu Petot: We’re thrilled to have such experienced professionals join us. It not only adds airfreight knowledge to our talented team of tech and airfreight experts, but also shows the industry’s desire to move forward and adopt technology at an accelerated pace.
How can mentors support your start-up?
MP: Beyond regular business reviews, the members of the advisory board also hold regular exchanges with the leadership team. We bounce our ideas off them and regularly review our products and partnerships with them, to make sure we’re heading in the right direction. The diversity of the representatives on the board ensures that we don’t offer the industry a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution.
What does your experience with forwarders and airlines offer CargoAi, Mr Lara?
DL: It’s not about individuals, it’s about what the team, with its diversity, can bring. My experience from a carrier’s and a forwarder’s perspective means I can contribute an understanding of their needs – and sometimes of their frustrations too. CargoAi has a seamless end-to-end value proposition with a digital solution that allows users to eliminate waste, reduce costs and improve efficiency. That’s what the industry’s stakeholders are looking for.
In August CargoAi put on its first Tech Summer event. What are your thoughts on such (virtual) events?
DL: Covid-19 has brought a new dimension to the way we meet and interact. In the last 18 or so months, people have become more comfortable with online products. I believe online tools are indeed effective in allowing companies to reach out to more people than was once possible. That said, I remain a big supporter of face-to-face meetings. It brings tremendous value when it comes to building trust.
So you still see a need for conferences such as the Iata World Cargo Symposium in October in ... Dublin?
DL: I don’t think e-meetings will ever replace the need to meet in person and the benefits thereof. The pandemic is still far from over, however, so attendance will remain a personal decision for a while yet.
Mr Petot, what are your overall conclusions from the Tech Summer?
MP: It started with a simple hope – create a platform for the industry to exchange about basic technology in airfreight, in a language for people who don’t live and breathe IT. We received positive feedback from attendees and will now remain true to our agile mindset – experiment, learn our lessons, repeat. Stay tuned!
What would seem to be the biggest obstacles for the digitalisation of airfreight?
MP: Getting all industry stakeholders to go beyond the idea of point-to-point connectivity remains a challenge. Even if most large carriers now have an API strategy, it’ll still take a while to get all players, including smaller – yet essential – firms, such as regional carriers or GSAs, to the same point. These players also need to distribute their product in a modern and efficient way, which is why we’ve developed an interface that allows carriers at every technical level to distribute their product in our marketplace, with or without APIs.
Which links in the supply chain are more advanced, digitally speaking?
MP: The ocean and trucking segments have a digital advantage over airfreight of five to ten years. But aviation is catching up fast, as we can see in the distribution and booking segment. We’ve also witnessed a lot of initiatives on the operational side.
DL: The airfreight industry’s lag is due to the fact that time compression is significant compared to maritime and truck transport, so the constraints are more complex. Airfreight is nevertheless catching up much faster than anyone expected.
To what extent might the pandemic be an accelerator for digitalisation?
MP: We believe that shifting consumption trends in the pandemic will have positive impact. Airfreight end-users now demand refined digital experiences in their private lives, which we trust will have positive impact on the adoption of well-designed and value-adding tech solutions in the short term.