cargo.one, IBS Software collaborate to develop airlines’ digital capabilities

June 16, 2020: Cargo.one and IBS Software have announced their strategic partnership to empower airlines on their digital transformation to emerge stronger from the Covid-19 crisis.

The companies have been working together to create custom integrations for leading airlines, including Etihad Cargo and Nippon Cargo Airlines, to successfully help them to further develop their digital distribution capabilities. In 2020, cargo.one has already displayed hundreds of thousands of bookable offers for airlines running IBS iCargo, without the use of a standardised plug and play solution.

With the first plug and play booking for All Nippon Airways (ANA) on cargo.one last week, cargo.one pioneers the implementation of the new iCargo Sales Platform which represents an industry-first standard integration for airlines running IBS’s iCargo software. The partners, IBS Software and cargo.one ‘walk the talk’ of digitalisation by delivering real results for their airline partner and cargo.one’s extensively growing user base of freight forwarders. 

As Covid-19 urges airlines and forwarder sales teams to adapt to a new normal, cargo.one reports a record increase in usage and demand. The platform now serves about 1,500 freight forwarder branches, located across key European markets. This customer base represents a significant growth of 425 percent compared to last year.

Moritz Claussen, founder and managing director of cargo.one said, “We see that Covid-19 has been a catalyst for digital transformation within the air cargo industry. This is reflected in the now 1,500 forwarder branches using cargo.one on a daily basis. Furthermore, we see that distributing capacity online at live rates is an essential part of the recovery roadmap for many airlines. Together with IBS Software we have been building a proven plug and play solution that empowers all IBS airlines to seamlessly integrate with cargo.one and get access to our ever-growing user base. Allowing airlines to boost sales online and almost instantly relieve overloaded sales staff.”

The seamless access and proven integration technology to the platform via the IBS iCargo Sales Platform will help the 30+ IBS airline customers to quickly use ‘out of the box’ services, without the need for major system changes. This helps airlines develop digital distribution capabilities which is a game changer for the industry.   

“We truly believe that leveraging online distribution is the way forward for airlines to emerge faster and stronger from the crisis and we are excited to enable these connections with innovation leader cargo.one and our state of the art technology. It is heartening to see how both companies have worked together in these challenging circumstances to deliver innovative capabilities that will help the industry. We have moved further in our broader goal of creating a “digital ecosystem” by collaborating with complimenting services, to bring greater value to customers using iCargo. I am excited as we will see digitalization accelerating further over the next months through our joint efforts.” concludes Ashok Rajan, senior vice president and head of cargo & logistics, IBS Software.

Recently, WebCargo by Freightos and IBS Software announced an out-of-the-box strategic partnership to empower airlines to become fully digital with an easy and cost-effective solution, which would also ensure a faster and smoother movement of supply chains during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, Lufthansa Cargo’s decision to move to IBS Software’s software as a service (SaaS) hosting platform in March is part of its long-term objective to focus on its core cargo business without compromising on IT operations.