Start-up Circle: Soham Chokshi CEO and Co-Founder, Shipsy

As the COVID-19 pandemic pushed consumers towards online shops, this shift in trend has pressured the logistics companies to adapt with their demands. In a brief chat with Soham Chokshi CEO and Co-Founder, Shipsy, CIOL discusses how logistics is evolving and digital transformation.

How is Shipsy evolving its business into automation?

When we started Shipsy, there was a need for real-time visibility and reduced costs in the global trade and logistics arena. Today customers expect information at their fingertips and demand a superior experience.

While organizations in peer industries are responding with personalized and digitized offerings, trade and logistics players are still plagued with manual operations through emails, text, and fax. Superior customer experience seems to be a distant dream!

We have automated fleet management, freight procurement, documentation, alerts, and notifications to different stakeholders, DSRs, and other business-critical processes for cross-border logistics. You can get the best bids using automated workflows and reconcile invoice payments.

On the domestic logistics, we have completely automated first mile, line-haul, and last-mile delivery. We’ve automated all processes to deliver a seamless, error-free process from automated order clubbing for pickups to intelligent route planning, vehicle assignment, clustering to real-time communication, fraud detection, and delivery feedback.

The logistics industry has been playing a major role during the pandemic, what are the challenges you witnessed in the process

The logistics sector is the backbone of the economy. Things will not be the same if it is compromised. The pandemic disrupted the industry by upending the manufacturing units, hampering the supply chain. Consumer preferences also changed during this span.

For instance, there was a demand for contactless, same-day deliveries and quality while keeping price sensitivity in mind. Businesses without AI capabilities had faint to no idea on how to navigate in this new ecosystem. Even if they did, they lacked the right tools to implement it with complete visibility.

Thus, the event also acted as a catalyst in the rapid deployment of tech solutions to tide over such hurdles. It only highlighted the importance of agility and digital transformation.

What is the future of the Logistics industry? Some key things you suggest the industry should focus on.

There will be more use of the internet and data to solve business problems, leading to a deeper level of customization. A lot of AI processes are still largely governed by set rules. This needs to change, as there is no one-size-fits-all method that you can follow. Different results need a different approach.

The industry should focus on digitization and upgrading its systems, which has been one of its biggest hurdles to date. Companies either have obsolete or poorly configured software that hinders data processing or different point solutions which restrict data sharing.

What’s your mantra to become successful in life and what would you like to give back to society?

The world around us is transforming rapidly. Amid all, the COVID outbreak has brought even more uncertainty for businesses. Change is the only constant and we must learn to navigate accordingly. Hence, my personal mantra for success remains First Principles Thinking. I try to approach all situations without any preconceived notions and embrace the change. I take a lot of inputs from various sources and then apply first principles thinking to come up with a strategy.

I would like to share my experience and knowledge with others, to somewhat ease their entrepreneurial journey. I would also like to engage with them to discuss insights and also learn from them. My efforts will also be directed towards ensuring that our solutions (at Shipsy) have a social impact and to make the logistics greener.