Technology is having a dual impact on the IOR/EOR market: it streamlines and provides transparency for foreign trade processes while increasing control over shipments in warehouses and in transit.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Aerodoc, a provider of IOR/EOR services that boost its customers’ businesses, Estefanía Sisatzky, the company’s Senior VP of Operations and Customer Service, outlined five key facts to explain the changes seen in the industry in these past few years. Sisatzky is an executive with more than 20 years of experience in the industry and a speaker and professor of international trade, shipping, and logistics.
1) The same foundation, just faster
The foundation of logistics work remains the same: We are all still looking for efficiency, accuracy, traceability, and visibility. What has changed is our way of getting it, how fast we get there, and the tools at our disposal. Today, real-time operations are a fact of life, a consequence of digitization and the access to information it enabled.
2) Data analytics is a game-changer
The use of artificial intelligence in logistics to create forecasts and deviations or to inform decision-making is a disruptive event that has already become a part of life. This translates into operational traceability and a high level of specificity and transparency for both us and our customers. In the past, the ability to track a delivery taking place in real-time anywhere, either online or offline, was the stuff of dreams. Now it is an option – not as readily available as we’d like, but an option, nevertheless.
3) The importance of the Internet of Things
Satellite tracking has caused another disruption, as we see with both large providers and small devices such as Apple’s AirTag, which may not be an ideal solution for professionals but can help individuals and SMBs with their local logistics. This has also had a major impact on warehousing – we have robots inside warehouses making decisions and managing inventories. Even small businesses can cost-optimize that picking process to know where every product is. This has been going on for a while, but now it is accessible to everyone. SMEs can easily equip warehouses with a very acceptable level of technology for the market. Access to technology has become more democratic.
4) IOR/EOR for e-commerce
Another unstoppable trend is the journey that leads to e-commerce. The Importer of Record market as a whole and players such as Aerodoc are already offering asset import and shipping processes for companies that need to take their e-commerce business beyond their national frontiers. Logistics has become a core element of e-commerce and now Importers of Record are joining in. This is already happening in countries or regions with higher levels of integration, like Europe or Asia, where cross-border transportation is a bit simpler, and legislation has been adapted to better suit e-commerce. With time, legislation will incorporate Importers of Record as key agents to support cross-border e-commerce for wholesalers and resellers.
5) Technology helps provide agile, transparent management
Companies like Aerodoc have heavily invested in technology to digitize their internal processes in a market used to paperwork and red tape. This allowed them to cut down costs, streamline processes, and increase transparency for all stakeholders. Technology is now a must, as well as professionalization, as the market has become hypercompetitive and hyperspecialized. We bet high on training and specializing our teams, which allows us to provide an outstanding customer journey.
