In recent years, the airfreight industry has been increasingly recognising the importance of digitalisation and technological innovation to improve efficiency, enhance tracking and visibility, and optimise overall operations. In 2023, that trend continued to develop rapidly, where airfreight players across the board kept pushing to digitalise more and more processes.

“People are increasingly realising that adopting digital processes is no longer optional but quickly becoming a necessity in today’s industry,” Eyal Goldberg, Chief Executive Officer at Breeze, said. “The vast benefits brought on by utilising digital solutions not only make day-to-day operations that much easier for the people using technological systems, but these benefits are becoming an imperative tool to keeping costs low and offering your customer the best service, which enhances your competitive edge.”

Speed of innovation

Progress towards a digital industry has been slow but is picking up pace daily. The logistics industry faces a myriad of challenges to embracing technology which has halted progress, however, some companies and regions are quicker to adopt digital innovation, and by that trigger others to do so as well. 

“The industry is moving in the right direction, with more players leading the way to accelerate this. Certain regions such as UK, EU and North America are moving faster than others, however overall we are seeing that “digital awareness” is growing globally, and at a very fast pace,” Goldberg highlighted.

“From our perspective at Breeze, we see cargo insurance as a specific sector that is lagging behind somewhat. Historically, the insurance industry has been slow to embrace digital innovation due to its traditional nature and the challenge of building trust in new technologies. However, more and more we are seeing people recognise that digitalisation is inevitable, and vital, even, for the continued safety and sustainability of the multimodal freight industry,” he added. “The key is to create a simple and straightforward way of adopting technology.”

READ: Insurtech Breeze integrates with Barrington Freight to digitalize cargo insurance

Barriers to digital development

One of the biggest barriers to technological innovation is that many airfreight companies may still rely on legacy systems that are not easily adaptable to modern digital technologies. Updating or replacing these systems can be costly and time-consuming, and tech companies need to be willing to put the work in with their customers and partners to ensure their digital solutions marry up with legacy systems.

“Tech companies have the most important role to play in addressing this gap. At Breeze, we recognise that being nimble and agile enough to adjust our core tech to work with existing legacy systems is crucial to helping our industry evolve,” Goldberg highlighted.

“To drive industry-wide uptake of digital solutions, we offer two distinct services to cater to our customer’s level of digital expertise. For companies that are newer to using digital solutions, our platform is very user friendly and takes them through a few simple steps, allowing them to quickly find and offer cargo coverage in a very simple and straight forward way.

“For those who are more technologically advanced, our API-based digital integration allows for fully automated process using the data generated by and extracted from your operations, providing a more streamlined and efficient insurance process,” he continued.

READ: Revolutionising cargo insurance

Shaping the future

In 2024, Breeze expects to see substantial development and investment in all aspects of digitalisation. However, a key area of focus will be developing embedded processes, using AI to seamlessly integrate into existing workflows. This means an increasing number of manual processes will be embedded into workflows and performed digitally – thereby greatly reducing the amount of time and effort required to complete them. 

“This will happen across all of the value chain; from quoting, securing capacity on aircraft, insurance, and addressing customer issues such as delays and claims,” Goldberg explained.

“However, I believe we will see growth and substantial progress in all digital domains. Digitalisation is a trend that cannot be stopped, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that this is where our industry is headed,” he outlined.