London, June 13, 2022 — Vector.ai, the productivity platform for freight forwarders, today announced HBI, a freight forwarder specializing in maritime and air transport, as a new customer. Vector.ai’s technology will automate workflows across HBI’s accounts payable, customs, and pre-alert operations.
The move aims to support HBI’s global expansion plans by supercharging their operational scalability and flexibility during one of the most challenging periods in recent supply chain history. The “age of disruption” has been characterized by ongoing COVID-19 turbulence, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and rising tensions over detention and demurrage charges. The Vector.ai platform will enable HBI to embed automation throughout the shipment lifecycle and empower its team to deliver outstanding customer service amid rapidly changing marketing conditions.
“We are thrilled that HBI are leveraging Vector.ai technology to drive greater operational efficiency and assist in their exciting international expansion,” said James Coombes, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vector.ai. “Shippers are becoming increasingly savvier about sourcing strategic partners, who match best-in-class domain expertise with the right tools to navigate supply chain volatility. HBI recognise that.”
Vector.ai’s solution will use artificial intelligence to understand, triage and act on incoming shipment data, saving HBI’s operators countless hours chasing information, manually keying into systems and reconciling against downstream systems. The platform’s real-time, continuous processing will enable HBI operators to handle shipments more quickly and with more certainty for their customers.
“Technology is a critical driver of growth, allowing us to build more resilient and flexible supply chains, which is particularly important in today’s tumultuous landscape,” said Pierre Desnottes, Chief Operating Officer of HBI. “Vector.ai offers a comprehensive platform equipped to handle a wide array of operational processes, which will allow our team to dedicate more time to optimizing client satisfaction.”
HBI’s use of Vector.ai’s suite of capabilities will initially launch at the company’s French headquarters with sights set on implementing the automation tools globally, across all forwarding operations.