Ed Gillett, CharterSync. Source: CharterSync
Cargo charter portal CharterSync is looking to expand its team after the successful launch of its updated platform.
The UK-headquartered firm last week upgraded its portal to offer a digital end-to-end booking process and management system for its freight forwarder users.
Speaking at the Air Cargo Europe event, CharterSync co-founder and director Ed Gillett explained that the new system offers a full-price comparison between various charter options – including part charters – a central area for all documentation with digital signing and a traffic light system to monitor document due dates and milestones.
“All the key documents for a flight are centralised in the system rather than email,” he said.
“As well as the forwarder, the airline can see it and our own internal team can see it so we are all on the same page.
“And then the charter agreement is digitally signed through the system so we can move away from manually having to scan the document and send it back.”
The system also offers flight tracking and a post-flight report that summarises all the relevant information.
Gillett added the CharterSync team also have a key role to play in customer liaison.
“It’s about pairing the technology with the team,” he said “We need to have that supporting hand from our team as well. We can’t expect the system to do everything.
“We are trying to empower our forwarders as much as possible to show them it isn’t too difficult, but also be there in case they do need help.”
Looking ahead, Gillett said the coming months will be important for the company’s development as it looks to add new team members.
“Our team size 15 at the moment, but this next year is going to be a big year in terms of expansion and recruitment,” he said.
“We will be looking to bring in more people on the sales side but also on the technology front, so we are going to be hiring in-house developers to help us accelerate our development.”
On future developments, a payment system is one area the company would examine but there are some considerations, such as whether customers are ready to use an online system to make payments.
“At this stage, the payment side is not done through the system but for various reasons, we would like to consider the payment side,” Gillett said.
“We would work with someone in partnership, we know quite a few partners out there that would potentially be a good suitor but again it needs to be at the right time for us.
“With a charter flight, the transaction values can be much higher so does someone have full confidence to book the charter flights through a payment gateway?
“I have enough confidence in that, but do all the forwarders around the world have enough confidence?”
For now, the priority is developing features that will get the most traction with users, he said.
On ownership, Gillett said that around 18 months ago he and the other co-founder, Simon Watson, performed a management buyout and they each now own 50% of the company.
When asked how future developments would be funded – especially as tech investment has become harder to come by in recent months – Gillett was non-committal, although he hinted there could an announcement soon on investment.
CharterSync unveils new booking management system
