Bidding farewell to the “handicraft workshop”: How did this logistics giant, handling 400,000 TEUs annually, achieve explosive growth through digitalisation?

‘Order today, delivered tomorrow’ is hardly news these days. In this era of surging globalisation and deep integration between e-commerce and the real economy, each of us enjoys the ultimate convenience brought by modern logistics.

Yet behind the scenes, the logistics enterprises underpinning the efficient movement of trillions worth of goods face an unprecedented storm of internal competition and a digital revolution. When a logistics giant with global operations and an annual cargo volume exceeding 400,000 TEUs finds its internal management—particularly its financial processes—still heavily reliant on manual, workshop-style operations, what crises might arise?

Sailing for over two decades: New challenges for a logistics veteran

This is precisely the story of our protagonist today—an industry veteran with over 20 years of deep-rooted experience in international freight forwarding and a workforce exceeding 1,000 employees.

They are true one-stop global logistics specialists. After more than two decades of development, they now operate 35 branches worldwide, employ over a thousand staff, and handle more than 400,000 TEUs of global import and export cargo annually. Their services span every aspect of logistics—from sea freight and air freight to road transport, warehousing, and supply chain management—covering everything from 1kg express parcels to entire factory relocation projects.

However, this substantial business scale and extensive geographical reach presented significant management challenges. Disconnected front-end and back-end systems, coupled with operational and financial silos, created severe data fragmentation.

Simultaneously, standardising financial processes and ensuring tax compliance across branches in over 30 countries and regions became extraordinarily complex. This resulted in financial consolidation and performance monitoring heavily reliant on manual adjustments – not only inefficient but also hindering management’s access to real-time, accurate data insights for strategic decision-making.

A Meticulously Planned Digital Transformation

To systematically address these challenges, the company resolved to implement the globally leading SAP Cloud ERP solution. Partnering with Acloudear, renowned for its extensive implementation experience in international logistics, they jointly designed and executed this far-reaching digital initiative.

The project was not achieved overnight but rather as a meticulously orchestrated ‘global campaign’. To ensure a smooth transition, Acloudear devised a phased, regionally segmented ‘three-step’ implementation blueprint:

Step One

Rollout commenced across 19 core companies in Mainland China and Hong Kong

Step Two

The system was subsequently extended to 8 companies in key overseas markets including Singapore, Malaysia, and the United States

Step Three

Finally, cover five companies in Thailand, Vietnam and other locations, completing deployment across major global branches

Through standardised workshops, user training and data migration processes, this complex multinational project progressed methodically, providing robust assurance for the new system’s seamless transition and efficient operation.

Phase One successfully launched!

The SAP Cloud ERP solution deployed by Acloudear delivered rapid and significant value. Commencing in April, the project achieved its first monthly closing for the initial 19 companies by August, fully demonstrating the ‘Acloudear speed’.

01 Established a globally unified digital platform

A group template capable of accommodating the operational requirements of 33 companies across 13 countries and regions was successfully established. This enables unified management of master data and standardised business processes, laying a solid foundation for global operations.

02 Achieved Remarkable Data Processing Capabilities

During the initial phase, the system smoothly processed over 38,000 customer and supplier records, more than 5,000 fixed assets, and the migration of substantial opening balance data. Post-launch, over 90,000 interface data points have been reliably processed through more than 30 interface scenarios.

03 Significantly enhanced financial efficiency and compliance

By streamlining internal transactions and cost allocation processes, and unifying analytical dimensions and reporting across the group, not only has financial closing efficiency seen a quantum leap, but standardised procedures now meet diverse national compliance requirements, substantially reducing non-compliance risks.

04 Established a robust digital foundation for future growth

This transformation not only enhances immediate management efficiency but, crucially, provides a stable, scalable, and powerful system underpinning for the company’s future business expansion and global reach.

In today’s volatile global supply chain landscape, competition among logistics enterprises extends far beyond freight rates and shipping routes. The depth of digitalisation determines the resilience and sophistication of a company’s service chain.

For this logistics giant, this integration of operations and finance represents not merely an internal ‘self-revolution’ in management efficiency, but a pivotal step in its evolution from a traditional “carrier” role to that of a data-driven, insight-rich ‘supply chain architect’ within the global trade landscape.

When data from every container and every order flows in real-time into a unified digital core, they gain not only clarity on the present but also foresight into the future…

This article "Bidding farewell to the “handicraft workshop”: How did this logistics giant, handling 400,000 TEUs annually, achieve explosive growth through digitalisation?" by AcloudEAR. We focus on business applications such as cloud ERP.

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