Shaping the future of the freight industry

IFW’s digital transformation is just one of many technological changes forwarders must embrace, argues Peter Quantrill in the final Forward Thinking column to appear in print

One month into the new decade, it doesn’t seem so long ago that there was the panic over the potential fallout over the "millennium bug".

Many will recall that there was a "lockdown", with companies preparing for the year 2000 by spending a fortune on ensuring that their systems did not fail on 31 December 1999. To say the least, it was a nonevent.

We entered 2010 still deep in recession, though of course, that depends on what you read or, frankly, what you choose to accept.

One thing that can’t be denied is that old ways of working, communicating, gathering information and conducting business within the freight industry are changing faster than ever.

It’s not that long ago since the typewriter and telex were the mainstays of a busy freight forwarder’s office. Now, in the digital age, few starting in the British freight industry today will ever encounter such devices.

And change is coming to IFW, one of the must-read publications of the UK freight industry for the past 40 years or more.

I am privileged to be able to contribute to this, the last printed issue of IFW. The switch from the printed newspaper to a digital edition may unsettle some readers, as it will break long-established habits.

But it does illustrate the need for all those in the freight industry to be able to accommodate change, and to meet changing expectations.

On the same day each week, this newspaper has arrived in office or workplace, to be opened, read and passed around. Future generations in freight offices will think this quaint.

Today, people expect a rolling news environment where they do not have to wait for the news, either in formal news programmes on the television or the day of the week that IFW pops through the letterbox.

This change has come about as new technologies influence the manner in which those involved in the freight forwarding business not only get their news, but also how they obtain market information and communicate with key stakeholders.

Increasingly freight executives are making use of social networking opportunities such as Linked-in and Twitter to network, communicate and gather market intelligence. YouTube is used as a valuable promotional vehicle.

Such new ways of communicating will inevitably continue to escalate in importance to all in the freight forwarding and logistics business.

As the trade association for UK forwarders, BIFA intends to be on top of such developments.

By the time this last printed edition of IFW hits your desks, many of you will have attended and enjoyed the BIFA Freight Service Awards.

In keeping with the sprit of the digital evolutions I have outlined, we have made our latest technological advance by launching a dedicated awards microsite which runs off BIFA’s main website.

This site has its own branding and navigational paths, including names and photographs of this year’s winners, as well as sponsors, finalists and winners from the past five years.

The site will remain live throughout all organisational stages of forthcoming events, and act as a repository for historical data going back over the previous five years.

Lists of previous events’ categories, sponsors, finalists and winners will be published, as well as photos of the winners, ceremony, host and guests being showcased.

The look and feel of the site will change on an annual basis to reflect the current event’s branding.

The 2009 event branding will migrate to the new 2010 branding by the end of June, timed to coincide with the traditional brochure that we produce to facilitate entries.

Members wishing to enter this year’s competition will have the option, from the end of June, 2010 of submitting, and paying for, their entries online.

Additionally, tickets for the next ceremony will be available for booking electronically.

So what of the BIFA Freight Service Awards themselves?

As ever, I have the pleasure in summing up what was another successful awards competition and ceremony.

I saw in the judging process this year a clear demonstration of something I have said previously: the forwarding industry has always shown great resilience throughout varying economic cycles, always showing itself adept at matching both its shape and service offerings to the changing needs of its customers.

Once again, the ceremony was truly enjoyable and a fitting finale to another year accomplished. At the same time it marked the hard work and diligent efforts shown by BIFA members in what has been a truly horrendous 12 months for many in British industry.

But, it is not just in technology that there are new developments. Each year in our awards, we single out the Young Freight Forwarder whom judges acknowledge has the best potential for a bright future in freight forwarding.

Each year, there will be BIFA members who will realise with a start that the winning candidate was born after they started in the industry!