Day: 1 July 2019

The first paperless, instantly financed and fully door-to-door tracked container has made its way from Korea to the warehouse of Samsung SDS in Tilburg via Port of Rotterdam on Blockchain-based platform DELIVER. AMRO, Port of Rotterdam and Samsung SDS say they have demonstrated that blockchain technology enables interoperability, and that integrated container tracking and tracing, required cargo documentation processing and financing can all be done in a trusted, secure and paperless way.

It’s long been argued that new technologies such as blockchain have the potential to take over supply chain management entirely and disrupt traditional ways of working. As demonstrated in a Proof of Concept (PoC), a comprehensive supply chain management system with paperless integration of physical, administrative and financial flows is now truly feasible. The DELIVER concept fuels process automation and provides value for all actors in the supply chain.

According to Robert van der Waal, Deputy President of Samsung SDS EU/CIS, DELIVER has clearly demonstrated its significant potential. “The first shipments to use the platform gave us a good insight into the possibilities of large-scale implementation. As cargo recipient, we benefitted from real time information and advance availability of digitized cargo documentation. We can re-design our processes more efficiently, enabling us to act based on real-time events and trusted data. Ultimately, this will strengthen our service proposition to customers.”

The ultimate objective is to reach an open, independent and global cargo shipping platform. This will enhance supply chain transparency and efficiency, potentially unlocking millions of euros in cost savings in the long term.

 

Air Menzies International (AMI), a provider of air freight and express services to the forwarding market, is to deploy BluJay Solutions software across its global operations.

The new platform, comprised of BluJay’s Transportation Management, Customs Management, and Control Tower applications, will replace AMI’s current operating systems.

Steven Ritchie, Vice President, Information Technology at AMI, said: “This investment is focused on delivering an improved customer experience, providing benefits for AMI, our customers and partners. We aim to connect digitally at every step of the supply chain to connect our customers to the right products, services and solutions. In addition to moving our operations to the cloud, we will partner with BluJay to accelerate adoption of technology innovations.”

“We were looking for a digital platform that simplified our processes and made it easier for customers to do business with AMI – from making bookings to gaining visibility on shipments,” said Jonathan Clark, CEO of AMI. “AMI selected BluJay because of the quality of the products, the quality of their people and the strength of the partnership on offer.”

AMI anticipates that the first branches will start using the new platform in September of 2019, providing customers with the ability to request instant quotations, make online bookings, access digital track and trace, and collaborate via document exchange.

 

Amazon Business has today launched Business Prime. The service gives members access to Prime delivery benefits including unlimited One-Day, Same-Day and Nominated-Day delivery. The new membership also allows customers to visualise spend data and identify money-saving opportunities with Spend Visibility and set policies to improve compliance with their purchasing policies and maximize their budget with Guided Buying.

“Business Prime enables customers to get the most out of the great selection, pricing and purchasing experience on Amazon Business,” said Dave Brittain, Head of Amazon Business in the UK. “We continue to listen to feedback from our business customers and are excited to introduce these new benefits which take the most business-relevant parts of Prime membership and add additional features to make life easier for organisations of all shapes and sizes. Our goal is to help businesses drive even more transparency into their procurement process, while ultimately lowering their total cost of purchasing.”

The company says the benefits include:

• Spend Visibility: Powered by AWS QuickSight, Spend Visibility provides advanced visualisations of company spend in ready-to-present graphics, freeing up the time it takes to download, analyse data and discover spending trends.
• Guided Buying: Guided Buying enables Amazon Business account administrators to identify preferred suppliers and products, as well as set specific product categories as restricted. It offers buyers greater insight into company policies or recommendations while shopping and helps businesses reduce rogue spend, improve compliance with their purchasing policy and consolidate suppliers.
• Upgraded Delivery Options: With Business Prime, every user gets access to unlimited One-Day Delivery for no additional fee, no minimum order required. Members also get access to Same-Day delivery in selected areas and Nominated-Day delivery to the UK, as well as unlimited Two-Day delivery to the Republic of Ireland as part of their membership.
• Access to Prime Day deals and exclusive discounts.

Amazon Business customers can sign up for an annual Business Prime membership based on the number of users on their business account: (Basic) £80/year ex VAT for up to 3 users, (Small) £250/year ex VAT for up to 10 users, (Medium) £600/year ex VAT for up to 100 users and (Unlimited) £4,500/year ex VAT for unlimited users.