ABX introduces locally developed ICT systems
Local courier company, ABX Express (M) Sdn Bhd, looks set to join the bigger players of the industry in terms of ICT capabilities with the introduction of its Smartship and Smartrak systems. Uniquely, both these systems were fully developed by local ICT graduates in a period of less than three months. “The successful development of these programmes show that our local boys are just as capable as foreign competitors,” said ABX country manager Ali Nordin. “The Smartship system is a front-end shipment processing system which has many different capabilities such as being able to produce airway bills (AWB), management reports and such. “At the moment, it is being used by many of our customers, which are mainly banks like Malayan Banking Bhd, RHB Bank Bhd, Bank Simpanan Nasional Bhd, Bumiputra-Commerce Bank Bhd, and even MNCs like HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank,” he said. Ali said the Smartrak, on the other hand, was a tracking system, much like the ones being used by the bigger players, which enabled customers to track the status of shipments in transit. Besides that, ABX couriers would also be equipped with PDAs (personal digital assistants), enabling them to scan customers' bills through the attached barcode scanners and then relay this information back to the office in real-time via a GPRS connection. “Through the use of these systems and technology, we are looking, to a large extent, to go paperless. “However, we will be officially launching all these applications towards the end of the year as we are still strengthening our firewalls to prevent virus attacks,” said Ali. He added that ABX was planning to hold discussions with the Small And Medium Industries Develop-ment Corporation (SMIDEC) in the hope of securing some form of financial backing in order to go ahead with the ICT investments. “Each PDA costs between RM6,000 and RM8,000 and this has to be multiplied with the total number of couriers we have, which stands at around 330. So, as you can see, the SMIDEC backing is very, very important.” ABX currently has about 330 motorcycle couriers as well as another 145 four-wheelers. ABX, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, recorded a turnover of RM30 million in the first and second quarters of this year, putting them at number eight in terms of revenue generated. According to Ali, they recorded an 8% increase in profits as compared to 2003. “However, though we are at number eight in terms of revenue, I would say that in terms of service, we are the best local company. “Our track record shows that we have picked up seven awards since 2002, like the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) award, the Enterprise 50 award and the Golden Bull award, which is awarded to outstanding SMEs. “We will probably be going into Vietnam by the end of this year. “We chose Vietnam because it is one of the few countries in which Global Distribution Alliance (GDA), the consortium of express courier operators of which we are a part of since the beginning of the year, does not have a presence,” he said. Ali said ABX was planning to be ISO certified by the end of the year and was also hoping to become a listed company by 2007. BY Marc Lourdes |