Big data management and data visibility will be the future in the new digitalisation era, says Paul Lawrence, managing director, Tigers Global Logistics South Africa. “We see technology as our key differentiator and our focus at Tigers remains on digitalisation. We believe the supply chain industry
is ripe for disruption and this is a constant theme within our group,” he told FTW. “The forwarding and logistics sector is plagued by old legacy technology and legacy systems and, consequently, poor data visibility and security are endemic across the industry.” Tigers, he says, operates on a global cloud-based platform. SmartHub:Connect, the world’s first combined freight, e-commerce and logistics portal. It provides visibility across the supply chain and runs global e-commerce operations in Microsoft’s Azure data warehouse using its state-of-the-art firewalls, BI, and AI. “Establishing our technology stack and eliminating
any possibility of future legacy systems has been our global priority for the past few years. The launch of SmartHub:Connect has addressed the main challenge of managing our e-commerce growth and adapting to the omni-channel fulfilment environment with differing pick faces and B2C deliveries.” Within the SmartHub:Connect platform, Tigers has developed a variety of tools designed to enhance the customer’s freight, e-commerce and logistics experience. This modular platform has allowed the company to stay flexible and to keep ahead of technology trends in the logistics and e-commerce environment, he says.
“What makes this unique is that it provides customers with global visibility of their international forwarding, their inventory levels, and their e-commerce fulfilment,” explains Lawrence. The ongoing focus on e-commerce has seen the company also invest in new hubs in London, Los Angeles, Seattle, Miami, Rotterdam, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.
“We have developed a technology centre for excellence in South Africa that bridges the gap between what our vendor-based solutions offer and what our clients require. The team supports development groups in the USA and China, and is proficient in both the technical and functional areas of logistics and supply chain technology,” he adds.
It provides customers with global visibility to their international forwarding, their inventory levels, and their e-commerce fulfilment. – Paul Lawrence
