How a Fortune 500 leader in Print and PC solutions digitalized its operations with iHub

As a multinational technology company with a leading presence in end-user computing and print solutions, the volume of transactions this client manages presents high operational demands. In Singapore alone, they receive more than 1000 orders per day spanning across 20 business units, both B2B and B2C. To deliver, choosing a third-party logistics partner that could manage the scale and complexity of their supply chain was critical.

According to their APJ Logistics Procurement Manager, this was especially important in a country like Singapore where consumers expect speed and precision.

“Singapore is different,” he explained. “You need more attention to detail and that’s where iHub definitely stands out.”

But to achieve high levels of precision, old manual methods of using excel spreadsheets had to go. So in a move to digitalize their operations, the organization chose iHub to drive this change.

“One of the benefits we saw with iHub was their proactive approach.They came to us and said, ‘You are doing all this manually right now when it can be system driven. It wasn’t until they showed us that possibility that we thought, ‘Yes, this is what we want to do.’”

Complexity Simplified

Each business unit within the organization comes with a different set of complex requirements. One good example is its subscription-based consumables program.

“How it works is you purchase a printer, you subscribe to a consumables plan, and you pay a monthly subscription to print the number of pages you need. When your ink is running low, without you having to order ink, it automatically sends a signal to us, triggers warehouse operations, and is then fulfilled to you,” the APG Logistics Procurement Manager explained. Powered by the in-house developed Virtual Logistics System (VLS)–which unifies order management, warehouse management, transport management, and business intelligence with associated dashboards–what would otherwise be error prone cross‑functional coordination is streamlined into a single, coherent workflow.

“There is again complexity with this because it’s not just delivery,” the Manager said. “Right now, iHub sends an SMS to my customers saying that we plan to deliver it between this and this time with an option to change it. So there is a lot of dynamic planning that’s involved here. And all that, again, works without a hitch.”

The transport management system integrated within the VLS pushes notifications allowing customers to change addresses, contact numbers, and delivery dates. Real time driver locations are also made visible for tracking, and users have the option to rate the delivery service quality post-fulfilment. These functions reduced the need for the organization’s teams to deal with the complexity of each customer order, allowing them to gain substantial time savings.

The VLS also gives the client’s team real-time visibility of their supply chain from anywhere in the world. Fully automated, the efficiency and accuracy increase has translated into more time spent on strategic tasks, and less on no value-add logistical humdrum. Functions such as pulling out billing invoices, proof of deliveries, and inputting delivery orders are fully automated.

“Previously, if I needed a billing report or shipment weight details, I had to go through our internal billing system and half the time the data wasn’t accurate,” the Manager shared. “Now, I can simply log into VLS, pull the shipment data directly, and download it in under two minutes. For me, benefits like this have been very real.”

Why Wait to Innovate

For this client, having a logistics partner who is nimble in adapting to change was key in staying ahead of the curve. When they first went live with iHub, its sustainability team required a Green Freight Asia certification to meet ESG objectives. As the Procurement Manager recalled, iHub’s response to the pivot was simple: “No problem, let’s do it.”

That same flexibility was evident when the organization began exploring the use of electric vans while the technology was still in its early stages. Rather than hesitating, iHub readily committed to testing an approach not yet widely adopted. “We said, ‘Let’s explore using electric vans,’ and at the time, iHub actually went and purchased two or three, and even branded a side with our logo,” he said. Now 5 years later, that investment has paid off, leading to both reduced emissions and fuel cost. Whether it was opening a second warehouse at the airport or taking over the handling of customs clearance, iHub’s culture of trodding the path not yet taken resulted in repeated project success.

This agility proved especially valuable for them as a large multinational enterprise where change requires intricate cross-departmental collaboration. “For a company like us, it's like turning an ocean tanker,” the Procurement Manager said. “One thing that I really appreciate about iHub is you do a lot of development and system changes on your side while working with the legacy systems that we have.”

With a growing tech team of software developers, AI engineers, robotics engineers, digital product managers, and UI/UX designers, iHub is able to make software changes quickly. All source code is developed internally and fully customizable to suit each customer’s unique business processes, with seamless integration between client systems and iHub’s VLS.

This client’s onboarding kickstarted right at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic and was the only onboarding they have ever done in the middle of a global shut down. Typically when onboarding, everyone is put in a room together to figure things out, but that wasn’t an option this time. However, it was in the midst of this challenge that “iHub’s IT strength was really visible,” the Procurement Manager said. “Because a lot of these onboarding are IT driven, the fact that we were able to do that remotely is very, very impressive.”

As he observed, this commitment to continuous change is visible on the ground. “Every time I come to iHub’s warehouse, it’s completely different. There's always some new technology being implemented. I told my team, ‘We’re not going to look for another partner.’”

Quality Without Compromise

The service quality of one’s 3PL partner has a direct impact on the perception of a customer’s brand in the eyes of their clients. That is an aspect iHub takes seriously. The speed of delivery and quality of customer touchpoints determines the way they experience our customers; it is an area we do not compromise on.

“Where iHub has a huge advantage is in having its own fleet,” the Procurement Manager said. “So you can control the vehicles, the drivers, and the equipment, everything. All the other partners we have worked with in the region, save maybe one or two, are outsourcing. They outsource t third parties who own the assets and it becomes hard to do quality control.”

And for them, having such a partner who would uphold their brand prestige was non-negotiable.

As the Logistics Procurement Manager of their entire Asia Pacific and Japan region, issues typically escalate to him only when something has gone wrong. Yet when it comes to iHub, he “can’t remember the last time” that’s happened, an outcome that underscores the reliability and consistency of the partnership.

Conclusion

And the returns from their bold decision to digitally transform its logistics operations? They have been substantial. By significantly reducing the manpower required for manual, administrative tasks, the organization unlocked long-term cost savings while minimizing human error. At the same time, both the client’s and iHub’s teams saw measurable productivity gains, freeing them to focus on higher value work that truly matters.

“We could have gone to one of the big conglomerate 3PL players,” the Manager said.“But iHub was a better fit for us. They were what we needed in Singapore.”

Put simply, logistics for them used to be just functionally operational. But now strategically partnered with iHub, it still continues to operate at scale, just faster and a whole lot smarter.