The logistics tech industry gained much traction in recent years. Many tech companies have entered this arena and are being developed when writing this article. Therefore I thought it would be great to review some of them so that shippers and logistics companies could know and understand what to expect from each. So starting today and in the future, I will provide short reviews and my own opinions on some of the available logistics technologies.
A few weeks ago, I had the chance to look at Gnosis freight. Gnosis is a container lifecycle management platform that helps customers better manage their shipping containers, improve drayage operations, and save money on things like demurrage and detention charges.
How does the company achieve this? The team at Gnosis has developed its own proprietary tracking engine with connections to all ocean shipping lines, ports, terminals, and more, which streamlines visibility to the container level so that companies using this solution can see all their containers and important shipment data in one place.
Gnosis has developed some exciting features on top of that data like demurrage and detention alarms which give the Last Free Day for each container, provide notifications for when a container is being charged or is about to be charged D&D, and how much is being charged, helping customers prioritize which containers to pick up first. As demurrage charges are a massive pain for shippers (especially last two years and still now, as port operations are still hectic), organizations can save a lot using this platform. You can find a case study about D&D saving possibilities here.
In addition to ocean shipping, Gnosis has air freight and rail visibility. They have also developed an invoice auditing tool, which audits logistic-related invoices automatically, and many other automation tools, such as a drayage optimizer. You can read more about some of their more advanced functionality here.
HOW IS GNOSIS DIFFERENT?
Of course, many solutions provide visibility solutions, so I will underly a few things that have impressed me.
The most significant disadvantage of visibility platforms is that their data is often inaccurate or incomplete. With connections to ports and terminals, which is unique and challenging, in addition to ocean carriers, the guys at Gnosis have found very complete and accurate data for their solutions.
Another strong point I see of Gnosis is that it solves real issues, and the return on investment is easily measured. Many other solutions haven’t connected all the necessary dots to save costs. Therefore with other solutions, you will get vague statements like reaching employee workload efficiency and some saving figures that are hard to prove. While with Gnosis, the results are pretty obvious; if you have substantial D&D expenditures, they can provide you with an easy-to-use solution to save both costs and employee workloads.
The other which I like about the platform is that it’s versatile and can be custom-made for each customer. Many visibility platforms in the market have only one option, which usually doesn’t fit every customer’s need. It is nice to have something for customers with some standard operations, but it’s a problem if your organization wants some adjustments made. With Gnosis, you will have access to their software engineering team to custom-build your solution until it best fits your needs.
And finally, the solution has much more functionality than most, which connects all needed dots by combining visibility with other solutions to solve other supply chain inefficiencies. The lack of additional functionality is one of the most significant disadvantages in other container lifecycle management or visibility solutions. Usually, those solutions provide visibility, streamlined communication, and document management options. Still, they do not have invoice auditing or AI-powered algorithms that can be built around a concrete company’s case to help make better decisions. And as far as I know, Gnosis will continue to introduce new functionality options shortly, and they do not have the intention to stop here.
For whom is this solution?
So, first of all, Gnosis is primarily focused on North American shippers at the moment. Still, they do have customers in other parts of the world, such as Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia.
The platform is the best fit for shippers that do a lot of ocean shipping operations and face challenges with D&D charges. Of course, Gnosis also offers AIR and RAIL legs visibility, but from this standpoint, in my opinion, their ocean visibility is the key differentiator. This solution can also be helpful for logistics companies who manage freight on behalf of shippers or provide drayage services. Because using this solution, they can save costs and provide more value to shippers with the help of Gnosis for things like drayage operations.
And most importantly, it’s for companies that expect more than just visibility and are looking for more functionality, collaboration ability, and custom build solutions.
So if you are looking for ways to save D&D costs, improve other operations, and fit into the company descriptions mentioned above, you should consider trying Gnosis.
You can arrange a demo with Gnosis here.
