Scripting a new story in digitalisation

Having a huge experience of 27+ years of logistics and supply chain industry, the industry veteran Satish Lakkaraju joined tech-enabled freight forwarding platform WIZ Freight six months back and since then, Wiz is on the expansion mode. It is scripting a new story of digitalisation in the logistics domain. Read more in this exclusive interview of the Satish Lakkaraju, Senior VP, WIZ, with Apace Digital Cargo.

Satish Lakkaraju, Senior Vice President, WIZ

To begin with, what prompted you to join Wiz Freight?

I am an Indian by birth and the pride of working for an Indian company is a great feeling always. I have worked for multinational companies in the past and have learnt a lot during the last 3 decades, which comes in handy to build WIZ. I guess Indians are hardworking and equally intelligent, so the technological solution that WIZ has to offer attracted me. It was my dream from day one to build an Indian multinational and something I tried in one of my previous organizations along with the owners. In WIZ, the founders are much focused, and so it motivated me to work with them to make my dream come true. Wiz, as an organization, provides its employees with a lot of freedom and opportunities for growth. Along with this, it provides an amazing technological solution.

How can Wiz Freight help the industry in terms of ease out the supply chain? What are the key features which make it a distinguished concept for the fraternity? 

WIZ’s AI-powered platform saves shippers countless hours by providing instant capacity discovery, dynamic pricing, optimised routing, door-to-door tracking, and automated document workflows.  

As a digital player in emerging markets, we work directly with carriers and customers, providing a full stack execution model that provides visibility and cost savings to all stakeholders.

We provide customers with a lean and cost-effective high-tech solution that allows them to manage their supply chains more efficiently by leveraging the platform. Our expertise and disruptive technology help our customers automate manual tasks, improve visibility, and save money. It enables them to easily book competitively priced shipments and track them with real-time status updates. Because of the digital platform, all stakeholders can accurately collaborate on data, documents, and tasks.

This eliminates the troubles of paperwork, poor visibility, and the time-consuming tasks of coordinating with multiple freight forwarders.

What is the marketing strategy of Wiz Freight?

Our marketing is focused on our USP, which is a full-stack digital operator providing end-to-end supply chain solutions with complete visibility. We target Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities along with Tier 1 cities. We are members of various forums, such as TIACA and FIATA, to gain the required international visibility.

We have been a part of many events, such as ACFI (Air Cargo Forum India) and the recently organized Air Cargo India, to increase our engagement with our customers as well as with other stakeholders in this industry.

We are also focusing on developing visibility and a strong presence on the digital platforms as a part of our promotion strategy.

What are the expansion plans? What would be the focus areas? 

WIZ has already announced the opening of its upcoming 20,000 sq. ft. area tech R&D centre in Chennai with a capacity of about 200 employees, and it now plans to open two more centres in Bengaluru and Singapore to further develop its AI/ML, blockchain, and IoT capabilities in order to provide intelligent and connected cross-border shipping to its customers. It plans to double its headcount and increase revenue by 400% in the coming year.

By the end of 2022, the startup plans to expand into 15 more Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern and African countries, with Singapore and Dubai serving as regional headquarters.

We are focusing on developing our verticals and the concerned trade lanes.

  • Automotive & Manufacturing
  • Commodities
  • Fashion Retail
  • Food & FMCG
  • Hi – Tech
  • Life Science
  • Renewables

What is your outlook for Wiz and its contribution to the industry in the coming years?

WIZ – Radar Ventures is very promising given that the demand for good full-stack digital forwarders is increasing in the emerging market. We have entered at the right time and are attracting the right talents across all verticals and trade lanes. We will be a major contributor to certain routes and verticals that are critical for the world. Some of the areas, like Life sciences and Food require organizations with in-depth knowledge and expertise, which we are building expertise through industry veterans and the required infrastructure and capability.The Indian trucking industry is very fragmented and very few organized players are available in the market, and this is another area where we can add value by using technology and helping the industry manage the demand and supply in peak seasons as well. We are here to add value to the emerging markets, which are more complex than the developed markets like Europe.