THE Philippines’s Jack Ma may already be waiting in the wings with the development of XLOG, a Web-based platform for international shipping and logistics.
Eugenio Ynion Jr., CEO of homegrown technology company Shiptek Solutions Corp., recently announced the initial start-up for XLOG, the world’s first-ever end-to-end logical solutions provider, to cater to importers and exporters not only in the Philippines, but all over the world.
XLOG is the equivalent of Lazada for retail shopping needs, Uber or Grab for transport requirements, or Amazon, for all other things one likes to find and buy on the Internet, among the growing list of Web-based platforms taking over the digitally inclined world.
Ynion, son of a grizzled Master Mariner, is confident XLOG will revolutionize the world’s shipping and logistics and change its landscape forever.
Having been in the shipping and logistics business for years, Ynion, just like many people who have been in the trade, knows the grueling challenges one needs to overcome to be able to survive in the business.
“I have been in the shipping and logistics industry for 24 years now. I’ve seen all the problems encountered by both shippers and service providers. That has served as my inspiration to pursue the development of XLOG,” said Ynion, also currently serving as chairman of Barangay San Antonio in San Pedro, Laguna.
From trying to find the right supplier that delivers good service at reasonable rates, to the constant fear of having goods stolen in transit, all the way to the actual delivery of goods to the point of destination, there lies a certain amount of risk and apprehension on both the importer and exporter. Such risk and apprehension are what XLOG will be doing away with as the shipper can be most assured of the best rates available for his shipment anywhere in the world. In addition, he can monitor his goods real time from the point of origin to the point of destination.
Ynion is confident XLOG will become a catalyst of business success for those engage in shipping and logistics because it enables logistics to work for them, instead of against them. By taking away a lot of things to worry about when it comes to shipping and logistics, businesses become more efficient and productive too.
“XLOG was created with the goal of bringing shipping and logistics into the digital age by providing a tool for both exporters and importers to efficiently and effectively manage their logistical needs in shipping, trucking, brokerage and warehousing. By consolidating all these services in one platform, it will allow for a simplified process, better tracking and security, and ease of transaction documentation, This is the future for the global shipping and logistics industry,” the Shiptek CEO enthused.
Based on prevailing situation in the business, an importer or exporter would take at least one day to get a standard quotation from a logistics provider and another 1.5 days to renegotiate the given rates. Prior to dealing with a preferred provider, the exporter or importer would have to communicate with several other logistics providers to ask whether they can serve their requirements in full because some specializes only on certain routes. Transit times and some other charges are also major consideration of an importer and exporter in deciding to take a specific logistics provider. Overall, that would take about three to five days.
With XLOG, the entire process is cut down to just 1.5 days because the platform can provide instant quotation to importer or exporter from multiple service partners that offer services for their specific needs. The platform reduces the back-and-forth process by laying down all the information needed for an importer or exporter to make a decision.
Interestingly, the platform is also very user-friendly and manageable. It is just like an individual Facebook account for subscribing importers and exporters where each get to have his or her own username and password to access their XLOG account. And just like most web-based platforms nowadays, information on the platform is stored on a cloud-based server ensuring security as well as accessibility wherever the user may be.
