Technology logistics CEO shares the secret to delivering success

Persistence, consistency, products that resolve market challenges, and assembling the best people are key.

In an industry where supply chains are often opaque and miscommunication plagues almost every process, Quincus allows users strong operational control over their logistics operations.

After establishing its Singapore headquarters in 2018, the company pivoted its business model, fine-tuned solutions and tools, and laid out milestones—a number of which have already been reached.

With CEO Jonathan Savoir at the helm, the company has developed a powerful supply chain platform for top-tier logistics companies across Asia Pacific. The executive’s strong leadership and customer-focused mindset pushed the team to roll out a robust array of ground, air and port solutions, and land contracts with multiple large enterprise customers.

To maintain the high product and solution quality, Jonathan´s primary focus is on rapidly growing a global team and establishing a strong organisational culture.

In an interview with Singapore Business Review, Jonathan talks about the company’s value proposition, his outlook on the logistics industry, as well as his recent win at the SBR Management Excellence Awards.

What does it mean for you to be named Executive of the Year for Logistics?

We started Quincus almost five years ago because we saw significant gaps in the logistics market: a lack of visibility in terms of communication, a lack of transparency across the supply chain and among stakeholders, and opportunities to improve and optimise processes and operations when it came to keeping close tabs on container and parcel movement, delivery fulfilment, airline movement, amongst others.

Since we have opened doors for business, we have had the privilege of working with some of the greatest logistics juggernauts and easing their operations flow to reduce unnecessary costs and improve delivery numbers. It has not been an easy journey, but it has been fulfilling. More importantly, we are seeing our clients reap benefits as a result of implementing our systems. Earning this award is not only validation that our solutions have a positive impact in the logistics sphere, but a firm nod to the initial conviction we had when we first sat down and seriously considered plunging into this space among the giants of industry.

Can you tell us more about your success story as a leader of your company?

We started our operations in the UK half a decade ago, before moving our operations to Brazil. Two years after, we decided to shift our headquarters to Singapore, hub of Asia, which made sense given that we cover 90% of the area and are heavily invested in the Asia-Pacific logistics space. During this time, we have pivoted our business model, worked to finetune our solutions and tools, and set milestones to reach. Today, we are proud to say that our systems are being used by top providers and airlines in the region and globally.

We have also primarily spent time focusing on building a strong team, because it is important to create a strong organisational culture for everyone within the company. We value talent at Quincus and treat everybody across the company with respect. Persistence, consistency, products that resolve challenges in the market, and assembling the best people for our team have contributed to achieving our goals. Leading and transitioning the organisation through these changes was not an easy task; as a company we needed to ensure we oriented our business model, product development and operations in the right direction.

With Quincus’s revolutionary solutions and GeoEngine, what would be the company’s value proposition to existing and would-be clients?

Logistics is a titan amongst industries, yet so often, the supply chain is opaque and murky. We wanted to clarify the entire system and give clients the chance to oversee their entire operations from end to end with complete transparency and visibility. In particular, we wanted users to have very strong operational control over their operations. Each Quincus product was designed to enable and ensure this. Across ground transport, port operations, and air deliveries, clients face uncertainty when it comes to managing deliveries. At Quincus, we remove this confusion and replace it with a clear overview of the client’s entire operation for any parcel and container, from start to finish. Already, we have seen significant improvements in outcomes for our clients, including reduced per-delivery costs across multiple markets and countries.

Amongst the myriad of tasks as CEO, what would be your primary focus at this point?

Right now, we are focused on maintaining the high quality of our products and solutions for customers while rapidly growing our global team. As mentioned, establishing a strong organisational culture is very important for us. We also need to bring the right leaders on board as we embark on bigger tasks and engage with greater challenges with our customers. Hiring remains the primary focus for us at Quincus.

What’s your outlook on the logistics industry?

The logistics industry is seeing exciting times, especially in Asia. Indonesia’s logistics industry is moving at breakneck pace and China is a huge contender in the logistics field. This rapid pace comes with its gaps and we want to plug them with our solutions. With e-commerce numbers steadily moving skyward and more people going digital with their purchases, the logistics industry is set to stay on a significant growth trajectory. Simultaneously, we will also see major changes on the manner in which operations is performed regionally and globally. Quincus continues to support our customers not just for current operations, but also future-proof itself with new technologies for new types of operations and business models.