DRIVING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH COMMUNICATION
LINFOX INTERNATIONAL GROUP 02
DRIVING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH COMMUNICATION AND TRUST
WRITTEN BY
MARCUS LAWRENCE PRODUCED BY
KRIS PALMER
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L I N F O X I N T E R N AT I O N A L G R O U P
Supply chain services provider Linfox International Group is undergoing a digital transformation to optimise its internal processes and offerings. Edwin van Poelje, Regional IT Manager at Linfox, discusses the process and its successes thus far
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ince its establishment in 1956 by Lindsay Fox, Linfox has become the leading provider of logistics and supply chain
services to the Asia Pacific region’s largest 04
companies. To maintain its advantage over the competition, Linfox has embraced disruptive technologies as a means to increase efficiency, reduce costs, boost transparency and trust, and drive customer satisfaction. “Digital transformation is not a threat, but an opportunity,” says Linfox’s Regional IT Manager, Edwin van Poelje, who is currently based in Bangkok. “Through digital transformation, we aim to understand company and customer processes more effectively, as well as capturing our digitised output on a central platform in combination with blockchain. Leveraging this data enables the company to report horizontally rather than by application or department, making the impacts of actions and decisions more visible.” He stresses that the journey is only as effective as the communication running through it. To that
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L I N F O X I N T E R N AT I O N A L G R O U P
“ Implementing software is a relatively simple process, however the change management process is key to making any implementation a success” — Edwin van Poelje, Regional IT Manager, Linfox International
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effect, Linfox has adopted an organisa-
behind the implementation are vital.”
tional approach to digitalisation that
According to Van Poelje, Linfox has es-
places cooperation and human interac-
tablished change management as one
tion at the forefront of its journey.
of its key factors for aligning its digital
“Implementing software is relatively
solutions with its business needs,
simple. However, the change manage-
whilst ensuring that fears of replace-
ment process is key to making any
ment through automation are handled
implementation a success,” says Van
with care and sensitivity. Replacing
Poelje, discussing the firm’s impact
staff with digital solutions, he adds,
mitigation of the culture shift inherent
is not an aim of their implementation.
in digital transformation. “The involve-
Instead, automation enables work-
ment of relevant users, training those
ers to contribute to the business in
users, and assuring and reassuring of
other ways. “We use machine learning
the functionality, benefits and rationale
to automate and improve our report-
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E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Edwin van Poelje Edwin van Poelje is an experienced IT executive, leader and strategist responsible for supply chain solutions, IT and innovations at Linfox across the Asia Pacific region. With over 20 years’ experience across multiple roles — including in management of IT strategy, migrations, upgrades, hardware and software implementations, relocations and restructuring projects — van Poelje has a seasoned and unique ability to manage multi-disciplinary IT environments, projects and challenges. Prior to working at Linfox, van Poelje accrued experience and success in roles with Shell, Ernst & Young, Capgemini and TNT Logistics.
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L I N F O X I N T E R N AT I O N A L G R O U P
“ We are standardising and centralising functionality on Azure wherever possible” — Edwin van Poelje, Regional IT Manager, Linfox International
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ing process on the Microsoft Azure platform. This is not meant to reduce our headcount; instead, it allows the team to focus on and action reporting outcomes, as well as supporting more elements of the business.” Alongside the possibilities for automation afforded by machine learning, Linfox has also begun to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) to assist with maintaining safety standards. “Our trucks have facial recognition software powered by AI that is capable of determining when a driver looks tired or is not complying
with safety standards, prompting an alert to address the issue.” Another key aim of the digital transformation is in minimising the firm’s regional hardware footprint, which is where the aforementioned Microsoft Azure platform comes into play. “Cloud technology is a key pillar in our digital strategy,” notes Van Poelje. Cloud technology not only enables Linfox to accelerate the time-to-market of its solutions and services, but also considerably boosts ease of access, scalability, budgeting and billing capabilities. “Reduction of hardware onpremise reduces the associated risks of hardware failure, performance and capacity constraints and backup,” says Van Poelje, adding that the strength of Linfox’s cybersecurity is facilitated by ensuring that the company’s cloud providers adhere to its strict cloud security standards for the benefit of users and customers. This alignment between Linfox and its suppliers is inherent across each of its vendor partnerships, with Van Poelje highlighting trust as the key factor in getting the best deal and service. “With our vendors we look for a long-term, w w w.l i nfox. com
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L I N F O X I N T E R N AT I O N A L G R O U P
25,000
Approximate number of employees
1956
Year founded
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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘LIG CORPORATE VIDEO’ 11 trustful and worthy relationship,” he
we offer internally and externally.” This
says. “As a family-owned company, our
functionality extends beyond cloud
values are Loyalty, Integrity, Fairness
functionality and cybersecurity to data
and Trust. We seek to match these
analysis, reporting and dashboarding.
values with our vendors to ensure they
“All of our systems either run on Azure
are the best placed to assist us with
or channel data into our Azure data
achieving our digitalisation goals.”
lake. From there, we can run reports
“Microsoft is a key player for us,” con-
and dashboarding, and allow access
tinues Van Poelje. “We are standardis-
to users and customers at the point
ing and centralising functionality on
of need.” Linfox’s efforts to harness
Azure wherever possible. For example,
data through digitalisation does not
we have standardised our transport
end there, however. Digitalisation has
management system and warehouse
enabled Linfox to reduce its paper us-
management system, providing the
age, optimise processes and access
standard for all services and solutions
to digital information, simultaneously w w w.l i nfox. com
L I N F O X I N T E R N AT I O N A L G R O U P
“ As a family–owned company, our values are Loyalty, Integrity, Fairness and Trust” — Edwin van Poelje, Regional IT Manager, Linfox International
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generating usable data and identify-
also ties Linfox’s ethos of open and
ing that which should be added to
collaborative communication together,
its blockchain network. “The benefit
providing a single source of truth for
of blockchain is the transparency of
users across the organisation that
information for customers regarding
can be relied upon to deliver the right
security, key performance indicators
information at the point of need.
and finance,” explains Van Poelje. “The
The successes and benefits of
immutable principle of blockchain
Linfox’s digital transformation are
makes this trustworthy and secure.
plentiful. Assessing the key benefits
In combination with smart contracts,
of the journey for employees, van
this will enable easy customer com-
Poelje highlights ease of access as
pliance and fulfilment.” Blockchain
being a decisive factor in the success
ency,” adds Van Poelje. “Our business intelligence environment gives a near real-time display for operations, departments and customers, which was not possible in the past.” Van Poelje also highlights the digitisation of the company’s safety process, particularly the frictionless manner in which it was enacted. “Instead of using paper, everyone is using online forms to report and communicate on safety aspects. “In addition, I am proud of the Azure environment we have established. It has been setup in a flexible way to accommodate for future demand.” This future-proofing is the crux of Linfox’s powerful position as a leading digitised supply chain solutions found through the application of new
provider. Van Poelje says that the next
technologies. The time freed up by
stage is to develop Linfox’s supply
leveraging solutions that enable em-
chain operations further, becoming
ployees to access data quickly, easily
a modular, dynamic and flexible service
and reliably is combined with the re-
provider that is able to connect with
duced labour afforded by automation
and fulfil the needs of any custom-
of repetitive processes. This ability to
er. With the laudable successes
apply time and skill more construc-
achieved so far, this goal seems not
tively not only boosts operational ef-
only achievable, but inevitable.
ficiency, but also job satisfaction. “For the organisation specifically, the key benefit is the visibility and transparw w w.l i nfox. com
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Linfox International is Asia Pacific’s largest privately owned logistics company with head office in Bangkok, Thailand and operates in six countries across the region. Website: www.linfox.com E-mail: LIG_enquiry@linfox.com