BGL finds scope for success with API launch

Dutch independent third-party logistics service provider Best Global Logistics (BGL), a customer of Riege Software, has utilised the newly developed direct airline booking API (Application Programming Interface). The API is available for Air France KLM Martinair Cargo bookings, enabling seamless operations in conjunction with Riege’s forwarding software Scope as an integrated solution. Providing the benefits of direct booking while at the same time avoiding the disadvantage of system changes, the direct airline booking API marks another milestone in Riege’s ‘One System. One Record’ approach to push Scope as the digital standard in logistics.

BGL was the first Riege customer to seek integration and will be the first one to use it. After the pilot period, Amsterdam-based Fast Forward Freight (FFF) will follow. Both BGL and FFF have invested in the development of the API together with Riege, which allowed the completion in the shortest period of time possible.

“It was our intention to benefit from this solution, the sooner the better, but we also had the ambition to be the first ones owning this API as an early adopter as well as a driver of future- oriented technology,” said Michel Loots, CEO at BGL.

With the new API Scope, users can directly send a booking request to Air France KLM Martinair Cargo, then receive flights and prices in real time and book the required flight directly without separate booking via web portals or phone and always with the latest dynamic prices at hand.

“Technically, it is all about a real-time match between capacity and demand. In practice, it is about saving time and money by avoiding phone calls and system changes. Literally a significant win for us and our customers which simultaneously makes us stronger in a very competitive market. The money we invested together with FFF is well spent, and the ROI is calculated for within one year,” said Loots focussing the economic aspect. “You rarely find companies co-investing in technological progress these days. With partners like BGL and FFF, Riege is blessed in the best meaning of the word. Of course, it is not limited to Air France KLM Martinair Cargo. All airlines are most welcome to join this community, gaining new customers with impressive volumes of freight,” said Henk Boorsma, managing director and co-owner of Riege Software in the Netherlands.

”I am glad and honoured to represent a company which not only can trust in the capabilities and loyalty of its employees, but also in the allegiance of its customers many of whom have proven more than once that real partnership goes beyond purely factual business relationships. That’s priceless. I wish to express my thankfulness specifically to Michel Loots of BGL and Marc Terpstra of FFF. When we say that Scope is the future of digital logistics, guys like them are the driving force,” said Dr. Tobias Riege, CEO of Riege Software.