Virgin Atlantic Cargo is first to adopt new Accenture booking platform

Virgin Atlantic Cargo is launching a “digital transformation,” it announced this week, with its switch to Accenture’s newest cargo booking platform.

Virgin Atlantic is the first company to adopt Accenture’s cloud-enabled AFLS 8.0 platform, which will go live in early 2020 and replace Virgin’s 10-year-old Voyager operating system. The new system offers customers the ability to interface directly through APIs, and use the platform for bookings, pricings, allocations and operations. The platform will also offer 24/7 communication, with ‘live chat’ and Chatbots.

“Accenture designed this platform to help its clients reinvent the way they communicate and operate with customers, employees and partner ecosystems,” Ganesh Vaideeswaran, managing director in Accenture’s AFLS business, said in a press release. “For Virgin Atlantic Cargo, AFLS 8.0 will support its goals to redefine core business processes and drive commercial and operational excellence.”

The U.K.-based company is only the latest to join a growing list of air cargo logistics providers unveiling online platforms. On June 3, Panalpina revealed that it would present its new customer platform at Air Cargo Europe 2019 this week in Munich, while DHL Global Forwarding also kicked off a platform last week.

A 2017 Freightos survey found that value-added services and customer service are critical for freight forwarders differentiating between providers, and cargo owners are currently prioritizing quality over cost, keynote speaker and CEO of Sea Intelligence Consulting Lars Jensen said at an April WACO meeting.