INTTRA’s new EMEA president focuses on digital transformation

Philly Teixeira, who was hired last week as INTTRA’s new president for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, most recently served as a key account manager for Maersk Line.    Six languages, experience with two of the biggest liner carriers, and two of the biggest forwarders in the world. It’s hard to beat the credentials of INTTRA’s new president for the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region, Philly Teixeira.
   Teixeira comes to the ocean freight e-commerce platform after most recently serving as a key account manager for Maersk Line the past three years. In that role, she saw the way carriers and her large beneficial cargo owner (BCO) and forwarder customers came to rely on INTTRA.
   “Everyone understands the leadership position INTTRA has,” she told American Shipper Monday.
   As an INTTRA customer, Teixeira said she saw the role the technology company played in driving an industry reliant on manual processes into a more electronic-oriented age. However, there’s so much work to be done.
   “INTTRA has played a major role in that transformation, but there’s still an estimated 50 percent of shipping that’s still manual,” she said. “Digital shipment management has become a necessity for differentiation.”
   She pointed to the idea that for many companies, process automation is now entrenched, but that the next stage is using data analytics to drive stronger decision-making. In this regard, Teixeira said INTTRA’s drive to build decision-support dashboards is a way for the company to grow its presence in the industry beyond its tried-and-tested booking and shipping instructions portal. INTTRA said around a quarter of global containerized trade is processed in some way across its platform.
   Aside from its transactional ocean freight tools, and its analytics dashboards, INTTRA is also a major supplier of shipment status data to third parties. INTTRA’s reach also extends beyond its own direct relationships with shippers and forwarders to third-party usage via transportation management system providers and 3PLs that connect to the platform via their own proprietary technology.
   When asked what role INTTRA will play in an ocean freight procurement and execution environment that’s changing rapidly due to new and established technology providers, Teixeira said all the activity is a positive.
   “Every kind of digitization is good for the industry,” she said. “If you look at other modes of transportation, the most difficult mode is still ocean. We need to address the ease of doing business. Any player that does that is good business.”
   Teixeira said her new role is primarily about strengthening INTTRA’s position in the EMEA region, being closer to customers in that region, and fostering the work environment for INTTRA’s staff there.
   She noted that INTTRA hardly needs an introduction in the region, since its customers are truly global. What’s more, many of the world’s top liner carriers and forwarders are based in Europe and know about the importance of the platform.
   “Our customers that are multinational have a global footprint,” she said. “So when I talk about carriers in Europe, I’m asking about their challenges globally and how can we help. It’s about building customer relationships that can help you grow.”