WOF Interview with Mario De Rosa, Key Account Manager at TIMOCOM
With over a decade of experience in the logistics realm, Mario stands out as a seasoned professional dedicated to the optimization and automation of logistical processes. Specializing in the seamless integration of APIs into client systems, Mario has become a trusted expert known for streamlining supply chain operations. As a forward-thinking individual within the industry, Mario remains abreast of the latest technological advancements, ensuring a nimble response to evolving trends. Demonstrating a practical approach, Mario has consistently achieved cost reductions and heightened overall efficiency for clients. Beyond hands-on contributions, Mario serves as a catalyst for innovation within the logistics sector, propelling forward state-of-the-art solutions. The trajectory of Mario career reflects a commitment to applying cutting-edge technologies in order to render logistics processes more efficient and automated.
What makes TIMOCOM’s Marketplace unique compared to other freight and vehicle space platforms in Europe?
In the past 27 years of our existence, we have managed to reach many companies involved in road freight transport. Today, we count more than 55,000 companies from all over Europe as customers of ours. Our network is therefore extensive, which is perfect for dispatchers looking for service providers short-term. A network this size obviously needs sophisticated security measures. We put in a lot of effort to approve potential new customers and monitor the existing ones to make sure our Road Freight Marketplace is safe and the business partners one can find there are trustworthy. Another feature – which we are very proud of, – is our language diversity. We offer our product and services in 24 languages and speak to many of our customers in their native language. That gives us the chance to stay very close to our customers and know their pain points very well.
Can you explain how the intuitive multi-search tool works and what specific features make it particularly useful for small/mid-size freight forwarders in finding the ideal cargo space or securing offers?
Our search bar allows users to filter freight and vehicle offers by various functionalities and other criteria. Normally, dispatchers search for cargo for different trucks or cargo space for different transports. The instant filters help them to save different search inquiries in their profile, so they don’t have to keep entering their needs for different jobs again and again. That saves a lot of time. In addition, the multi-search tool offers a push notification, so users can react to interesting offers even faster.
Using that tool can be an enormous competitive advantage in a market where speed is key. The majority of our customers find a transport partner on our Marketplace within 15 minutes.
With over 55,000 verified companies in your network, what measures does TIMOCOM take to maintain the quality and reliability of these members?
We check and verify every potential customer before allowing them to enter the network. Among other things, that check includes an authentication of important business documents and a minimum duration of the company’s existence. Once the company has been granted access, a self-developed software examines the freight exchange for irregularities and if it detects something, a team of experts take over. Furthermore, we offer a Business Partner Check, a Closed Freight Exchange, a customer’s rating option and a debt collection service. Finally, we provide information materials and checklists for our customers to ensure their own safety.
How does TIMOCOM’s platform support owner drivers and haulage companies in terms of accessibility and user experience, especially for those who may not be as tech-savvy?
From the beginning, we focused on providing FreightTech which is easy to use. We aimed to offer services which are safe, smart and simple and we never deviated from that strategy. In addition, we offer a Help Centre, where we explain the Marketplace and its services in an easy-to-understand manner. Furthermore, our Customer Service lends support in terms of technology and content in 29 languages. For some services such as Live Shipment Tracking, a real-time visibility solution for road freight transport, we have Carrier Onboarding Specialists who take care of the concerns and technical challenges of owner-drivers and smaller-sized haulier companies.
Could you provide examples of how freight forwarding companies have benefited from using TIMOCOM’s Marketplace, particularly in terms of efficiency, cost savings, and expanding their business reach across Europe?
Sure, we even regularly publish reference stories of our customers on our website to give interested parties an insight into the possibilities that the Road Freight Marketplace offers. It was actually the needs of hauliers to reduce the number of empty runs that led to the foundation of TIMOCOM. Within a network of more than 55,000 customers you should be able to find an appropriate business partner for your needs, even at short notice. Since we verify new customers and provide different tools which help Marketplace users authenticate one another, it’s simple to expand your network, capturing new routes and markets in the process. If you’re specialized in cold transport and have the necessary licences to transport food products, for example, it’s easy to stand out as an expert on our Marketplace. And our customers save many hours a week by using our digital services such as Transport Order instead of paper, phone and email.
How does TIMOCOM integrate with other logistics and transportation management systems used by freight forwarding companies?
Integration is vitalin order to facilitate our customers’ daily business. That’s why we cooperate with close to 50 providers of transport management systems via interfaces. That way, dispatchers can simply transfer freight or vehicle offers from their system to our Marketplace without even changing the tool. For the calculation of routes and costs and also the Live Shipment Tracking, we use the services of different GPS providers. Our customers can also use their telematics on our Marketplace via interfaces with any of 300 different providers.
use interfaces with 300 different providers in order to use their telematics on our Marketplace.
What innovations or new features can we expect from TIMOCOM in the near future to enhance the user experience for freight forwarders?
One feature we are working on is an AI assistance for the freight exchange. Our aim is to simplify the freight forwarder’s work on the interface between our Marketplace and other tools.
TIMOCOM is a medium sized, German FreightTech company with representative offices in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The IT and data specialist operates a marketplace for European road freight transport. TIMOCOM, a pioneer and facilitator in the industry, has been helping its customers digitalise and optimise their logistics processes since 1997.