The global logistics industry has faced significant disruption since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with inflationary pressures, trade pattern shifts, and elevated logistics costs. Ocean freight prices, particularly China-West Coast US rates, have seen a downward trend, reaching pre-pandemic levels. The volumes of imported containers to the US saw a decline through November 2022, and congestion at key ports like LA/Long Beach significantly eased. However, the rates for shipping a 40-ft container from Asia to the US West Coast have dropped by over 80% since the end of April 2022, and prices to the East Coast have fallen by almost two-thirds. This decline in logistics costs is primarily due to a reduction in consumer spending, which has impacted sales among many importers over the last two years. Furthermore, labor disputes and contract negotiations among port worker unions have added to the complexities of the situation.

Sysco IFG, a division of America's largest foodservice company, Sysco, coordinates thousands of products from over 90 countries, reaching millions of consumers daily. The company's goal is to reduce costs to customers, reduce delivery time for cargo, documents, and information, and increase logistics income. However, they faced challenges in making freight shipping rates available to sales and sourcing teams and ensuring those rates were used. The involvement of logistics and accounting teams in the sales process was resource-draining and slowed down the sales process, costing them sales.

Code&Quill, a Texas-based company that produces creative notebooks, faced a significant challenge in managing their freight logistics. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, the company had to ship goods to nearly 1,200 backers. However, the freight industry's outdated practices were not conducive to the needs of a small, fast-growing business like Code&Quill. The company's logistics manager, Dan Otto, found himself waiting up to 48 hours for a single freight quote, and the lack of transparency and efficiency in the process was hindering the company's growth. The team needed a solution that would streamline their shipping process, cut costs, and save time, allowing them to focus on their core business.

Global Airfreight International (GAI) was facing a high cost of sale due to the time-consuming process of generating quotes for freight rates. The process involved manually looking up the right carrier and rate, typing out the quote in an Excel spreadsheet, and then emailing it to the agent or customer. This process could take up to an hour per quote and was prone to inaccuracies due to human error. GAI needed a system that could handle complex pricing levels across different clients and routes, provide faster and more accurate quotes, and reduce their cost of sale.