“Customer experience redefines shipping" Encounter with Mathieu Friedberg, Head of Commercial & Agency Network CMA CGM

Customer experience is the preeminent matter that outlines flourishing businesses; a matter that Mathieu Friedberg, Senior VP Commercial Agency Network CMA CGM, discussed during the Transpacific Maritime Conferences (TPM) in Long Beach. TPM Long Beach is the must attend conference that gathers the major stakeholders of the shipping industry, the perfect occasion to learn more about the CMA CGM Group’s customer centricity strategy launched last year. CMA CGM met Mathieu Friedberg for a few insights.

Hello Mathieu, it has been a year since CMA CGM launched its customer centricity strategy at TPM18. For the readers that would need to catch up, what is it all about?

MF: "We have been reflecting on the true importance of customer experience and came to the conclusion that we had to revisit the journey by focusing on product enhancement, service delivery and ease of doing business. Our industry has been focusing on economies of scale, and other operational costs, but we forgot we’re a service industry: We provide services to our customers. Customer experience redefines shipping and brings it to a whole new level. In that order, we have worked on our organization to be in a position to innovate, develop and launch a whole set of new products and services to add value to our core products."

What are those products we are talking about?

MF: "Above all we’re mainly aiming at improving our customers’ businesses and enhance their peace of mind in their supply chain. We are working a lot on IoT (Internet of Things – Editor's note) and are now rolling out a set of products and services ranging from cargo protection with Serenity, to track and trace with Traxens, cargo financing, guaranteed space and on time delivery and new container preparations. At CMA CGM we take great pride in our innovations and we have a proven track record of new and innovative products. We have also been working on our service delivery and customer service. We are in the process of deploying a new customer service tool that will both enhance our staff members experience and increase our customer satisfaction. We believe that happy customer service people will provide great customer service – simple as that."

Is this where you think the industry is heading to?

MF: "There hasn’t been any major breakthrough since the invention of the container and we still do business more or less the way it was done for decades. Our industry has been developing volumes and lost the sense of service, value and efficiency. We know that our customer’s supply chains require a different approach and we believe that the future will be a combination of simple, digitized, very processed and efficient customer experiences. At the other end of the spectrum they also look for very customized, tailor made, engineered supply chain solutions combining both the strength and power of our assets and the expertise of logistic providers. In between there will be a strong portion of the today’s way of doing business which we will enhance and simplify through digitization and enrich through new product offers."

What’s next for CMA CGM customers then?

MF: "As part of this transformational journey there is a need to cure some fundamental flaws of our industry where we are not committed to the promise we make and our customers are not committed to the bookings they make. We are the only transport industry where we can deliver late with a very few penalties and where our customers can book and not show. This generates tremendous inefficiencies globally and comes at a huge cost in billions of dollars. We need to discuss open ways and a willingness to iterate, try agile ways, and new ways to work together. The customer experience of tomorrow is all about trust and it has to go both ways.

I believe we need to build a new way of contracting and build on strengthened trust – it is absolutely necessary. We have to simplify data exchange to create a transparent environment and in the end improve efficiency. We are a service industry and it is important that we get that right everywhere – it is a question of mindset, of skills and of tools – we are aligning all three aspects throughout the organization to make sure our customers enjoy a consistent service wherever they go, whatever channel they use."

Meet CMA CGM teams during TPM Long beach at the booth #13 from March 4th to 6th 2019.