Cargo Talk Feb2021 (2) - Flipbook - Page 12
TECH TALK
Simplifying the
e-booking process
CargoAi offers digital solutions that are tailored to the air cargo industry. Matthieu Petot, CEO, CargoAi, shares his
perspective of digitalisation. He believes that solutions must be simple and make users’ lives easier in a tangible way just
like the tools we use in our everyday lives.
financial difficulties, most airlines
pursued their efforts and investments to
connect to digital applications. For some
of our services, webcargo and cargo.
one can be considered our competitors,
but the three of us have probably
captured less than three per cent of the
total booking market so it is not worth
fighting too much for and it is not wise
to only focus on each other. We are all
busy enough coping with the amazing
growth of our market.
What is your USP that makes
qyou different from other digital
platforms?
Kalpana Lohumi
What was the idea behind
launching CargoAi?
q
The airfreight industry has always been
‘dusty’ and terribly lacking in new
technologies and high-end solutions. The
idea came to me in 2019, when I came
back to airfreight after an experience in
innovation at Dyson, and nothing had
changed. It was still relying on EDI and
traditional and inefficient sales processes.
In the meantime, all industries have
dramatically improved in the last 20 years
in e-commerce, e-purchasing and CRM,
but not airfreight.
Matthieu Petot
CEO
CargoAi
12 CARGOTALK
FEBRUARY - 2021
CargoAi is a huge step forward in
digitalisation for the industry because
the team is formed of tech specialists
and in particular of airfreight specialists
who understand the sector’s needs
perfectly. This combination allows
us to offer digital solutions that are
tailored to the air cargo industry and its
specific characteristics, all while offering
the greatest possible simplicity (our
solutions can be used right away and
do not require any effort from airlines or
long roll-out periods). We believe that in
order to be used and adopted, solutions
must be simple and make users’ lives
easier in a tangible way – just like the
tools we use in our everyday lives. And
that’s what we’ve put in place.
When already so many booking
qplatforms are available in the
market, do you have any strategy in
mind to endure the competition?
Most airlines are working on their
connectivity and it doesn’t make sense
for them to work exclusively with only
one digital platform. We will all have
a lot of work in 2021 as the market
is booming and our penetration rates
are growing exponentially. Even with
COVID, which has caused a lot of
We are unique in three key areas:
• We are the only application via which
a forwarder can request quotes from
and bookings with 100 per cent of
airlines. On CargoAi, our users don’t
need to have a different process to work
with other airlines – they are all under
the same roof.
• We have solutions for airlines, GSAs
and forwarders, no matter if they are big
or small, via our online application or
via APIs. The APIs allow easy integration
into their current system.
• We use the most modern and secure
technology. Our solutions are going to
last for a long time and do not rely on
old and slow architecture.
qWhat major challenges do you see
in the air cargo industry?
From a forwarder’s point of view, the
airfreight purchasing process is still
very traditional. Other industries used
to have the same kind of processes
www.cargotalk.in
