Calogi Says You Can
Calogi’s
Patrick Murray, “The IT Sage of Dubai,” talks with great enthusiasm
and hope about innovation and building fast-growing Calogi.
Murray, who serves as head of Calogi, is no stranger
to IT, having been involved with various systems, from British Airways
to IATA to Mercator.
As we learned during a recent conversation,
Calogi continues to offer an innovative program that empowers customers
with a collaborative approach to IT.
Calogi puts much stock into the simple art
of listening, and most often responds in the affirmative to any request.
However, magic bullets are in short supply.
Innovation and uncanny desire are matched by the ability to look far ahead
down the road, and to grow despite tough market conditions.
“We are ahead of our targets,”
Patrick insists, “but challenges remain in selling the benefits
of technology.”
April Showered
“There was large volume growth in
transactions in April and May versus last year; this, despite the runway
upgrade project at our home in Dubai.
“Our message volumes increased significantly,
suggesting many in the industry are becoming aware that doing business
online is easier than using telephone, fax, or email.”
Need Broader
Relationships
“The industry runs on relationships
and I am not proposing this should stop; however, meetings and personal
contact should focus on broader collaboration, and leveraging products
and services rather than on individual rate negotiations and bookings.
“We have upgraded our e-CSD feature
and made additional enhancements to our airline product, allowing an airline
user to view what is on hand in the warehouse, produce a load plan, and
share the same with the Ground Handling Agents (GHAs).
“Smaller airlines/GHAs can also use
this feature to generate an electronic/paper manifest and send status
(FSU) messages.”
Upgrading
Heathrow
“We continue to work with the industry
at Heathrow to implement the e-CSD and reduce the bottlenecks caused by
GHAs having to check the paper CSD against the department for trade database
upon truck arrival.
“The e-CSD, sent in advance, allows
the checks to be done prior to the delivery and reduces the time taken
for acceptance.”
Other
Initiatives
“We are also looking at ways we can
work with the industry to accelerate the e-AWB adoption.
“More needs to be done in terms of
education programs; many still cling to paper because they are worried
this is the only guaranteed means of getting the shipment cleared at the
destination.”
Taking Stock
“Another issue is that manual pre-printed
stock, which can only be printed or typed, are still being distributed
in some countries.
“It would be good to see a shift to
distributing air-waybill-stock numbers only.
“In the short term, moving to an A4
air waybill will help, while reducing the costs of heavy-duty printers
and expensive neutral stock.”
Keeping Company
With Industry Firsts
“Much of what we do is a first for
the industry.
“For example, our ad-hoc air waybill
release feature enables each airline/GSA to do business with over 600
forwarders in Dubai without the need for the traditional stock release
and associated payment delays and credit risks.
“The airline makes a pool of air waybill
stock available to the community and each forwarder has the option to
assign an air waybill from that pool to a particular job.
“Upon execution of the air waybill,
the monies are deducted from the forwarders Calogi c-Trade (credit) account
with a guaranteed payment to the relevant airline every month.
“The airline charges a fee (currently
set at 50 percent of the local AWB fee) for this type of flexible release,
which is a source of income that did not exist prior to the Calogi implementation.”
Loyalty Can
Be Rewarding
“Our loyalty program continues to
grow.
“The Calogi loyalty solution allows
any seller of services on the portal to run his own flexible loyalty scheme
with any buyers on the portal.
“By running their own loyalty program,
Calogi subscribers are able to solidify existing relationships, initiate
new relationships, and convert one-time customers into repeat business.
“We have already had several large
airlines running their own programs.”
e-Window
On The World
“Our branded version of the Calogi
website is proving popular, particularly with GSAs.
“Users logging on are directed to
the GSA’s branded version of Calogi, where they are only able to
access the products and services offered by that specific company; still,
they benefit from the extensive range of functionality the portal offers.”
Geoffrey
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