By Riya M Bharti

The pandemic accelerated digitalisation in some areas, as contactless processes were introduced in a much shorter span of time. So the same momentum has been built up, not only to drive improvements in operational efficiency but to meet the needs of our customers. Air freight is a key enabler of cross border trade which becomes especially critical for express deliveries, long-distances and efficient transportation of sensitive and critical cargo. Customers for these products now want to know where their items are, and in what condition, at any time while in transit. This requires digitalisation and data.

Being a technology solution provider to the cargo industry, the responsibilities these days are more on our shoulders to support the industry, that too in challenging times. We facilitated businesses by providing solutions on cloud thereby providing seamless and result oriented productivity even during the crisis.  We came out with some new digital solutions which are cloud based and can be remotely used by any device with an internet connection. We enabled “Work From Home” model rather smoothly, providing business continuity to clients without lowering quality or productivity. Few mobile apps were also launched during pandemic like HR App with Geo tagging to facilitate work from home, remote workforce management and operations.

Hans also facilitated air cargo community in handling cargo operations right from paperless, contactless to gate pass management. Our cargo community system brought together all stakeholders including customs, customs brokers, airlines, land transport, ground & cargo handlers, freight forwarders and shippers under one roof, thereby facilitating the seamless movement of goods and data across the logistics ecosystem. This eliminated unnecessary documentation and delays, hence bringing transparencies in supply chain and improving upon ease of doing business in the sector. Moreover, Hans and PHD have joined hands for online generation of Certificate of Origin (e-COO) through PHD chamber. This avoids manual and physical processes, increased delays and transaction costs.