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Bigtruck.in: Creating A Profitable Truck-Transport Ecosystem Powered By Technology

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Khurshid Alam, Founder & CEO ,Waheeda Khan, Co-Founder

Khurshid Alam, Founder & CEO

Waheeda Khan, Co-Founder

From the unorganized nature of the trucking industry and lack of infrastructure development in the country, to even the empty-running return trucks, every minute factor contributes to the lack of profitability amidst the industry's stakeholders. The need of the hour is an India-centric solution that's robust enough to concoct a revolution in the segment by making the lives of all the stakeholders, including cargo owners, truck owners, and drivers, not only easier, but also significantly profitable. Banking on technology to bridge the gap and address the deficiencies in the existing legacy trucking industry, Bangalore-based Bigtruck is stirring-up this most awaited revolution. It creates a digital revolution where all the key stakeholders get benefitted, while also addressing and mitigating the gap between the demand and supply sides of the existing logistics space. Bigtruck's smart mobile application will help every stakeholder to find ways to remain competitive and optimize their services to make their businesses operate profitably.

"Our business model aims to disrupt the fragmented logistics industry through tech-enabled logistics solution and without investing in huge capital intensive fixed assets or setups," asserts Khurshid Alam, Founder & CEO, Bigtruck. "We have built an asset-light, app-driven tech logistics platform which leverages technology and an extensive network to deliver supply chain services to our customers. Though ours is an asset-light model, our plinth is built on intangible assets like the virtual logistics network, state-of-art technology, and cutting-edge algorithms that leverage data," he adds.

The exclusivity of Bigtruck's business model is that it is inclusive of cargo owners, truck owners, and transporters, among others, thereby bringing all of them under one roof. The intelligent application matches cargo owners with transporters and truck owners to minimize the dead travel time and reduce transportation costs by utilizing proximity parameters and online bidding process. For instance, Bigtruck provides the truck owners with an opportunity to competitively bid for the transport charges, in addition to feeding them the comprehensive truck-tracking data (using telematics). It will provide them with real-time information about the truck's availability for the next load as well as the nearby load availability, despite being located in different cities and the truck being driven by the driver in remote places. This, in turn, enables a profitable return run that often doubles the revenue. Bigtruck indeed supports its users not just in tier-I & tier-II cities, but also in tier-III & tier-IV cities of India. With the help of route optimization and planning features, the drivers are additionally equipped to reduce diesel costs considerably. In essence, Bigtruck uses real-time data and technology effectively even in remote places and has excelled every milestone along the way with its every small and big partner. Furthermore, the company takes the responsibility of meeting the deadlines in payment processing and also shares the payment information to the concerned stakeholders so that they are mentally at peace.

Stringent Process for Smooth Functioning
On the flip side, the cargo owners, be it an organization of any size, get not only an opportunity to review the truck's documents before even hiring, but also an option to choose from the bids posted by the truck owners and see the Expected Time of Arrival (ETA), pay online, and thus benefit on a large scale. Its cutting edge technology enables cargo owners (& also truck owners) to track and locate empty trucks running in & around the loading location. Additionally, generating the e-way bill with Bigtruck's in-house software ­ e-POD, helps in not only reducing the TAT of any transaction, but also improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire logistics process. "We deliver goods the fastest. Our delay ratio is mere 0.02 percent, and delivery TAT is better than any logistics provider," adjoins Khurshid.

It's a great omen that the company incorporates truck drivers in the platform as well; educating them and solving their ages-old challenges by enabling them with route navigation and tons of information (available through Bigtruck driver app) is just a case in point. It big time helps drivers increase the turnaround time and predictability. Going the extra mile, the company also endeavors sustainable development by innovating more environmentally-friendly methodologies that will trim the long working hours of drivers, which in-turn will further improve the quality of services. "Our bigger goal is to have keen drivers in our country, who will opt for `truck-driving' by choice and not by `compulsion'. That is when we can say that technology is changing lives in the true sense. At Bigtruck, we want to empower and facilitate every stakeholder with the right kind of technology and business model to operate their business in a seamless and hassle-free manner," Khurshid elucidates.

Re-Establishing Trust in the Industry through Comprehensive Inclusion & Transparency,
Khurshid & his team walk the talk by taking the platform's inclusion level to beyond the cargo owners, truck owners, and drivers. The broad Indian logistics industry is not all about the shippers who need the services or truck owners & drivers who deliver it. It also comprises brokers who have been traditionally facilitating the entire process, including timely pick-up and delivery as well as other value-added services. With its
technology, Bigtruck doesn't try to eliminate them from the system or cycle, but rather it strives to leverage their network, connections & expertise and empower them with technology to expand their business. Khurshid adds, "Digital transformation came into existence to be an enabler of development and not to take away the employment from people". After all, who thought that the loads & prices will be available LIVE on a mobile app and the transactions will take place with the help of data and digital transformation! But today, it's real and it's happening with Bigtruck.

But to complete this transformation, trust among stakeholders is the key. Bigtruck is well acquainted with the huge gap that prevails in the industry in terms of trust between the stakeholders, and even more aware of what it takes to bridge that gap. Khurshid says, "We understand that we can re-establish the trust factor only by utilizing data and bringing-in end-to-end transparency in the platform, while also offering generalized unbiased pricing, maintained TAT, validation of documents, and a user-friendly application that can be understood by all". Bigtruck's endeavors towards re-establishing the trust have been in the right direction, as the company is building a strong suppliers network with the help of 1500+ broker partners and 2300+ truck owners (five trucks for each on an average).

Bigtruck is the brainchild of Khurshid and he is known for his leadership. A serial entrepreneur, he is determined to bring a revolution in the transportation & logistics sector. He holds a master degree in physics & an MBA in marketing & finance.

An Idea Formed from Reality
Rewinding back, the conceptualization of Bigtruck happened almost a decade back when Khurshid was enjoying a cup of tea from a small tea shop in a place called `Katras More', Jharia (a hub of coal mines and highly populous with trucks & drivers in the state of Jharkhand). Watching the people and their hustle & bustle immediately took him rounds through the thoughts of empty return trucks. While it's a sure bet that there is a cargo owner nearby, looking for a trucking service, the lack of information and transport infrastructure made the transporter struggle, and the sector remains always unorganized, drastically reducing the profitability. After brainstorming the business model for a couple of years, Khurshid finally incepted Translogic Technologies Private Limited in 2013.

Waxed and waned over the years, Translogic reinvented itself as a cutting-edge technology platform in 2017 and the company was named Bigtruck Technologies Pvt. Ltd. The new company was co-founded by Waheeda Khan, who brought along with her over 15 years of experience in Finance & HR leadership. "We named it `Bigtruck' because our vision was lucid ­ each and every stakeholder is a partner and everyone gets an equal and fair opportunity to go big using our technology solution for transportation and logistics business at large. Our goals were simple, and thus we came-up with a simple but robust user interface so that it's effortless to use the application," adjoins Khurshid.

The Bigtruck Lab
The Bigtruck Lab was created, during the inception of the company, solely to bring a revolutionary change in the trucking industry. The lab is equipped with a team of highly dynamic resources who are completely focused on building `future-ready' products, which are expected to be launched in mid-2020. The product primarily emphasizes the improvement in services in transporting the goods, safety & security of goods in transit, control of road accidents, and understanding driver's sleeping pattern.

”Waheeda brings-in over 15 years of experience in finance & HR leadership. In the past, she has worked with Citigroup, Cholamandalam, Barclays bank, and many more, before plunging into entrepreneurship and starting Rumztech along with Khurshid in 2009. ”

Using Big Data analytics, the Bigtruck Lab has also been closely monitoring the complex and dynamic nature of logistics, along with its dependency on many variable factors that create bottlenecks in the supply chain. An effective deployment of Big Data however requires a large number of high-quality information sources and reliable data from various touch-points to work effectively. Hence, the Bigtruck Lab has been dedicatedly collecting data from various sources such as vehicle diagnostics, driving patterns, and location information. "We have also tracked information from website browsing patterns, social media data, payment patterns, goods loading process, and from every other touch-point that exists in the entire booking-to-delivery cycle," avers Khurshid.


A Strong Vision
Waheeda explains, "We have been growing exponentially in the last 10 months of operations. Bigtruck has been growing by 70 percent month after month in terms of turnover, attracting more than 10000 users on to our platform. The average app (Android) downloads per month are more than 900. Currently operating from seven locations in India, we are planning to add 200 more within the next three years". Today, the company has moved-on to full execution status by joining hands with several successful partners and clients.

”Our agenda is to provide maximum trucking mobility choices that are accessible, equitable, affordable, and time conserving at the same time”

Going forward, Bigtruck focuses its vision of four `S' (Sustainability, Safety, Socio-Economic Uplift, and Security) that will define a much bigger framework for the company. "Our agenda is to provide maximum trucking mobility choices that are accessible, equitable, affordable, and time conserving at the same time. We have a strong vision, growth plan and roadmap, and are also ready to explore truckloads of future-fit innovative ideas of & feedbacks from our partners (clients) as they evolve and use the platform.

Quick Facts:
Year Of Establishment: 2017
Office: Bangalore
Offering: A Single Platform For Both Shippers And Truck Owners To Connect Directly

Case Study:
One of Bigtruck's prominent clients approached the company to help them to find suitable trucks for their movement of goods from remote places like Jaggayyapet, Nuzivedu, Vuyyuru, Nandigam, Palakullu, and Tadepalligudem in Andhra Pradesh. Finding the resources to place a vehicle in these remote locations itself was an extreme challenge. But thanks to Bigtruck's advanced technology, it was able to help the client by bringing trucks from a nearby location and placing the vehicle on time. The company reduced the TAT considerably by successfully placing the vehicle in remote places not only in Andhra Pradesh, but for other locations as well in India.

The efficacy of Bigtruck application in this case was ­ Bigtruck supports you not just in tier-II & II cities, but also in tier-III & IV cities in India. Its cutting edge technology played a very important role in this case to track & locate the empty trucks running in & around the loading point location.

The company was able to provide real-time information about load availability to truck owners who were located in different cities and the truck was being driven by the driver near those remote places. In essence, Bigtruck was able to use real-time data and technology effectively even in remote places, and it has excelled every milestone along the way with its every small and big partner.