The Exelot platform was built from the ground up to be cloud-based. It uses Amazon’s AWS cloud architecture and microservices technology, based on Exelot’s CTO – Izack Varsanno’s significant experience in designing such systems since the early 2000s. Exelot gathers logistical data on shipped items, delivery specifications, and logistics providers from countries all along the supply chain, including pickup companies, air, ocean, and ground shippers, customs agents, terminals, and distribution companies. The Exelot platform also facilitates the automatic collection of foreign VAT, which has become a hot topic in the e-commerce world in the wake of Brexit and the new European trade rules set to take effect in 2021. Due to the system’s robust performance and ability to outperform the average delivery speed of postal entities (typically arriving within two to eight days, depending on the country of origin), it can track and trace delivery routes as effectively as leading couriers, and logistics shippers and e-commerce outlets are more likely to use the Exelot system for deliveries.

 

During this time, with Exelot’s platform, distribution routes become visible in previously unseen ways. The company managed to ship e-commerce goods in multiple ways from multiple origins while optimizing their shipping, customs clearance methods, and distribution to end customers, although the air transportation industry was virtually shut down, airlines and planes were grounded, and traditional logistics companies were struggling to ship goods. When a customer submits an order, its parcels system operations begin. The system manages and tracks every stage of the parcel logistics chain from the seller’s warehouse. Sorting by mode of transport, destination country/region, and appropriate delivery method (e.g., door-to-door delivery, distribution center, or automatic pickup location), as well as using the parcel’s value for customs clearance, such as VAT payments, and adjusting this aspect of the shipment according to each destination country and the relevant data format.

Exelot’s journey began when Daniel Cohen (Co-Founder and CEO at Exelot) and Yitzhak Varsanno (Co-Founder and CTO at Exelot) came together as founding partners. Previously, Daniel Cohen served as Vice President of business development and marketing for several high-technology companies before spending about four years as Vice President of business development and strategy at the Israel Post. On the other hand, Varsanno was the Chief Program Developer at MAANA, formerly part of the Computer and Information Systems Center of the IDF, working on logistics software development. Since then, Varsanno has served as Director of Development and CTO for several companies, including IT Infrastructure Manager for Partner Communications Co.

 

After the establishment of Exelot, members of Alibaba Group from China, graduates of FedEx, Aramex, recently also Amazon and Yaakov Gazit, who managed foreign trade at Israel Post, joined the company.

 

Since the beginning, the duo has highly focused on innovation. Together, they stress defining the exact needs of customers carefully and prioritizes them. This helps in reducing the risk of innovating wrong solutions make life easier for the R&D team. Alongside, the team also focuses on proceeding on a step-by-step basis and analyzing if the recent developments do serve as it wanted. From there it continues to the next development. This requires having a strong mindset of a leader to implicate the entire organization. From vision, to focus, targets, and motivation. This mindset of the duo motivates managers and employees in the organization. When employees see and understand that the leader is also open and tuned to their needs, their motivation to contribute is much higher. “Of course, that mindset is crucial but not a sole one. The managers and employees are critical for success along with the ability to keep a persistent vision, to translate it into clear goals and doable workplan, with the control of the company’s KPIs are all very important elements for its success,” explains Varsanno.

COVID-19 has definitely brought several changes in the various industries across the globe. It also changed how businesses operate on an everyday basis. For Exelot, it led to developing a more sophisticated algorithm in order to increase the efficiency of touting e-commerce goods. The company had to include more forwarding options, capabilities of moving freight from one airport to another and using maximum flexibility with cargo terminals usage. In the final mile delivery, it has added flexible options between home delivery to pick-up points and improved the capabilities of presenting the locations. Also, with changes happening around, the world is now gradually adjusting to the COVID-19 changes. Expressing his thoughts on post COVID world, Cohen says, “I do believe that the change from physical to online is irreversible. That’s clear that by COVID mitigation people will return to a certain percentage to the physical stores. However, the COVID led new populations to join the online world, to understand the ease of use, the alternatives, and also to get used to e-commerce logistics methods. This will only go up.”

In the coming years, Exelot will maintain its expansion and growth in three aspects: additional origins and many other destination countries. The company will be a player also in origin countries such as India and Indonesia, and naturally make more efforts on destinations such as the USA, UK, France, and East Europe. The second aspect is the technology and it will present new applications on both ends: Delivery and tracking for the buyers and new optimizations, management, and control application for the retailers and shippers. Lastly, as a consequence and as Exelot did in last years—it will maintain the growth and profit. If the circumstances will remain as they are during these months, the company expects strong growth in 2022.

 

The Co-founding duo believes that in 2022 it will strengthen the global leadership of Exelot platform as an essential technological element of the e-commerce cross-border logistics B2B2C chain. As a part of the industry, Exelot, together with other players, have to find new ways and solutions, to reduce the footprint of e-commerce logistics, trying to make a more environmental eco-system. They see this as their duty to save the plant for them as well as for the generations to come. Cohen says, “I see great companies who were just start-up’s 2 to 4 years ago and now leading the market and also become public companies. Just to mention a few: Global-e, Wix, Bringg, Monday, or Payoneer. These companies are doing so by diversified solutions for e-commerce and also for other industries – whether this is in cross border expansion, delivery solutions, enterprises management or fintech and payments.”“I think that this phenomenon takes our industry a step forward and into a more sophisticated arena,” adds Varsanno.