Founded almost three decades ago in Santos, Brazil, Asia Shipping has grown into a prominent logistics provider with operations spanning more than 45 offices within ten countries. The company specializes in complex shipping solutions and serves a diverse clientele, requiring high levels of accuracy, efficiency, and real-time data availability.
Legacy system growing pains
Asia Shipping’s legacy system was outdated, fragmented, and heavily reliant on manual processes. The systems’ pitfalls were exposed by its inability to scale rapidly and increasing customer demands. This directly impacted Asia Shipping’s ability to scale operations effectively and provide seamless, real-time updates to customers as the legacy system’s original scope could only handle the Brazil market.
"In the past, we operated with different modules for different departments," says Andressa Fialkoski, Ocean Import and Export Customer Service Supervisor for Asia Shipping. "Each module functioned separately, which resulted in inefficiencies and created challenges in meeting the expectations of our demanding Brazilian clients."
While simultaneously tackling manual input from numerous spreadsheets and countless emails, it became increasingly difficult to maintain the quality and speed of service that customers expected. Adding to the complexity was the company’s need for a global, unified approach to logistics, which its legacy system failed to measure up to.
"Our old structure made it hard to connect our systems across countries and achieve real-time data sharing," explains Diego Pontes, Technology and Business Manager. "We knew that to support our growth and meet market demands, we needed a global platform capable of integrating our operations."
CargoWise boasts impactful results
After extensive market analysis, Asia Shipping’s board of directors selected CargoWise as the backbone of their digital transformation. This decision was driven by the platform’s ability to centralize operations, standardize workflows, and provide advanced automation capabilities.
Automation has significantly reduced manual workloads
"Previously, our customer service team spent hours drafting and sending emails. Now, these processes are automated, saving us enormous amounts of time," says Andressa. "Our team has achieved a 20-25% increase in efficiency, allowing us to handle a rise in volume without increasing headcount."
Customers now benefit from faster and more accurate information sharing. CargoWise has allowed the team to meet the expectations of each respective market consistently, offering unparalleled visibility and responsiveness.
Standardizing processes and systems across countries has improved collaboration and scalability
"We decided early on to use English as the system’s primary language," Andressa explains. "This ensures consistency and facilitates training and communication across all our international offices."
Customers were taking note, too
“Within a year, our customers began noticing the benefits of automation,” says Andressa. “Reports were sent faster, data was more accurate, and the overall experience improved dramatically.”
Successful implementation, ongoing support
To ensure a smooth implementation, Asia Shipping partnered with SFL, a CargoWise Partner and integration specialist.
"CargoWise has many capabilities, with countless configurations and options," Andressa shares. "Having a partner was critical. SFL’s guidance accelerated our learning curve and made it possible to implement the system effectively within our tight timeline.”
The rollout of CargoWise followed a phased approach, starting with smaller markets to fine-tune processes before scaling up.
"We began with smaller offices to test and adapt workflows," explains Diego. "This strategy allowed us to identify and address challenges before implementing the system in our larger markets, like Brazil. We dedicated nine to ten months solely to studying CargoWise, We also relied heavily on the e-learning resources to familiarize ourselves with the platform."
Looking ahead
Asia Shipping’s transformation with CargoWise emphasizes the value of embracing technology to meet the demands of modern logistics. Asia Shipping plans to expand automation efforts globally.
"CargoWise has helped us grow and has allowed us to redefine the standards of service in the logistics industry," says Andressa. “Our customers require everything, so they know that we are not going to work as just a standard procedure. We find a way to get what they want - and that would be impossible without CargoWise.”