Wiz is a full-stack digital forwarder, not a marketplace
Satish anticipates Wiz Freight to become a very serious player globally, particularly for the emerging market.
Satish Lakkaraju, senior vice president, Wiz Freight recently sat down with STAT Media Group to discuss the evolution of Indian freight forwarding from an air cargo point of view, the union government's push to bring down the logistics cost and the birth & plans of Wiz Freight. He particularly took time to explain what Wiz Freight really is and what it really means to be a digital freight forwarding company.
"We are a full-stack digital forwarder and not a marketplace for rates. Historically, one of the pain points for customers of freight forwarding companies was the lack of visibility across different stages as it moves to 33 to 34 hands before it reaches the final destination. We found that as a really good problem statement. We want to give a seamless service to our customers right from the pick up to the final delivery while making sure that everything is controlled by us either directly or indirectly. Also, our customers can store their documents on our cloud for a lifetime," he noted.
He anticipates that in the next few years Wiz Freight will be a very serious player not only in India but also globally.
"This year we aim to open 12 countries precisely. Singapore will be our Asia Pacific headquarters and Dubai will be our Africa and the Middle East Headquarters. The recruitment at WIZ is happening at a rapid pace, which I would have never done in my previous organisations," he said.
He also encountered questions comparing Wiz with its competitors like Flexport, Cogoport or Shipsy and noted Wiz will be focusing on emerging markets.
Talking about their focus on different verticals, he spoke about their global control tower for tucking in their Chennai headquarters and noted that Wiz is setting up a global innovation and control tower for pharma in Hyderabad.
"For this, we are collaborating with reputed partners who follow stringent measures so that we can bring everything into one single system which will monitor the temperature, track the shipment and tomorrow we can automate the corrective and preventive measures," he said.
