Announcement
(PRODUCT)
Introducing the FGX Platform
Shipping IT hardware globally doesn’t have to be so hard. Here’s how we’re making it easier.
Author
Last Updated
August 14th, 2024
THE FGX PLATFORM SHIPMENT DASHBOARD
FOREWORD FROM OUR CEO
7 Industrial Parkway
Livingston, NJ, 07039
Dear reader,
As the CEO of FGX, I’m thrilled to introduce you to the FGX Platform, a milestone in our journey to revolutionize global IT logistics. Our mission is clear: to make best-in-class global IT logistics as seamless as possible. Today, we launch a platform that embodies this mission. It will make your IT infrastructure operations easier and more efficient to run.
This launch is the beginning. It’s vital to move our work and communication out of email. We need to use dynamic digital artifacts that can be shared between FGX and its clients. This change is crucial and foundational. If we don’t start by codifying our shipping service, we will never be able to offer you the IT 4PL service that I know you need. Our work today will enable a future where deploying hardware for a refresh project in 23 countries will be as easy as dragging and dropping in the FGX UI.
The complexities of global IT logistics are numerous, with each shipment presenting its own set of challenges. Our team has worked hard to design a platform that not only addresses these challenges but also anticipates your needs. The FGX Platform is the result of years of work. It combines experience, business acumen, a deep knowledge of logistics and compliance. It reflects our commitment to excellence and our unwavering dedication to our clients’ success.
Thank you for your trust and partnership. I look forward to helping you navigate the complexities of your global IT logistics with confidence and ease.
Cheers,
Justin Brown
Founder & CEO
Since our first global IT shipment from the U.S. into Brazil over a decade ago, we’ve onboarded over 200 unique multinational enterprises, shipped tens of thousands of shipments, and stood up import solutions in 174 countries. Today, whether you need to ship mission critical FPGAs to India, or a massive amount of compute for your data centers in Egypt, you can rely on FGX to get the job done quickly, securely, and in compliance.
When clients choose FGX as a global IT logistics partner, it’s not just because we get the job done. It's because our clients find shipping with us much more seamless than working with other vendors or doing it themselves. But to achieve our mission, which is to make global IT logistics as seamless as possible, we believe we need to keep raising the standard.
This is why we’ve taken the last year to build the FGX Platform, which we’re rolling out to our customers starting today. With this first iteration, we believe that you’ll immediately feel more organized and efficient when you ship your IT hardware globally with FGX. This release will:
Eliminate the need to send any emails when requesting quotes, booking shipments, and providing us with shipment specific information.
Make your site and entity data accessible and reusable by your entire team.
Improve your global IT logistics experience in a stable, non-disruptive way. While we’re migrating a majority of the shipping experience from email to the FGX Platform, you’ll still have your shipments project managed via a consolidated email thread.
In this post, we’ll cover the main features that you’ll immediately have access to and go over what’s to come next.
Sites
With the Sites feature, you can add all of your enterprise approved addresses that your team commonly collects from and delivers to. You can then store all kinds of information about your Site. This ranges from simple address data to complex details such as letting us know if a delivery ticket number is needed at the location, which is a common requirement for collecting from or delivering to data centers.
When you add information to Sites, you’ll make collections and deliveries much more efficient. Instead of having to email you about whether a delivery ticket number is required or if a loading dock is available, we’ll immediately know and be able to action it. While you aren’t required to fill out every single detail about your Site to get started, booking a quote or shipment will be much smoother if you do.
CHOOSE FROM ENTERPRISE APPROVED SITES
Here are a few example data points that you’ll be able to provide us:
What days of the week will the site accept pickups / deliveries?
Does the site require a Certificate of Insurance (COl) for pickup / delivery?
Is a pickup / delivery ticket required?
After creating a Site, it will become available for your team to select when requesting a quote or booking a shipment. This will help standardize your protocols for managing shipment collections and deliveries. For example, you can set permissions so that your team can only choose from preset Sites that your compliance or logistics team have created.
Also, whenever you add a Site, our team will automatically run compliance checks to ensure that the location is TSA approved.
In the Sites detail screen, you’ll be able to:
View shipments collected from and delivered to the site, and trend data.
Access information about the site’s primary point of contact and security point of contact.
Compose, view, and edit logistical, operational, and security notes about the site.
Entities
For a long time, using our 3rd party Importer of Record (IOR) service or Exporter of Record (EOR) service was the most seamless way to ship your IT hardware globally. But with our Entities feature, you’ll now be able to act as your own EOR/IOR while maintaining similar levels of seamlessness. Enabling your entity to act as the EOR/IOR for your shipments enables you to:
Reduce your export and import fees.
Reclaim 100% of your import VAT paid if eligible.
Get access to the export and import documentation, while still having access to FGX’s supply chain and expertise.
With the average IT shipment’s purchase value being greater than ~$70,000.00 (based on our experience) and an average import tax rate of 20% and Importer of Record rate of 8% for non-US countries, your cost savings can range from thousands to millions of dollars.
ACT AS YOUR OWN IMPORTER OF RECORD WITH ENTITIES
Whenever you submit an Entity, we’ll assess whether your company can act as its own EOR/IOR for shipments to that country. For example, you can submit a UK entity to see if it’ll be eligible to act as the EOR/IOR for shipments from/to the UK.
As with Sites, once you’ve created an Entity and it's been approved to act as an EOR or IOR, you’ll be able to select it when requesting a quote or booking a shipment.
In the Entities detail screen, you’ll be able to:
View information about that Entity, such as its registered address and tax ID.
Set the main point of contact that should be notified when that entity is used.
View the number of times an Entity has been used for import and export.
View how much VAT is estimated to be eligible for reclaim.
Requesting Quotes
The FGX Platform makes it a lot easier for you to get optimized shipping solutions, and corresponding quotes and timelines. When requesting quotes, you’ll be able to:
Choose from preconfigured Sites and Entities for relevant fields.
Choose from three ways to provide us with your bill of materials (through direct input, CSV upload, or AI upload).
Modify and clone existing quotes.
DOWNLOAD AND VIEW QUOTES IN THE FGX PLATFORM
After you submit your quote request, our team will generate optimized shipping solutions that mitigate the chances of enterprise finance and accounting issues while minimizing costs.
Once you submit a quote, you’ll be able to centrally view, edit, clone, and manage it in the Quotes dashboard. In there, you’ll be able to see exact shipment costs, timelines, and notes. You’ll also be able to download a PDF version of the quote to share however you like.
Live Shipments
Whether you’ve converted a quote into a shipment, or booked it directly, you can view the activity in the dashboard right away. Clicking on a booked shipment will lead you to a dashboard. You will find metadata (like collection and delivery addresses), tracking statuses, and more.
We aim to execute shipments perfectly for your team. Doing so, we will often require input from you. That's where Action Items come in. When we need more information from you, we’ll request it via the Action Items feature. It may be to reconfirm a delivery address, complete a document, or ask for a delivery ticket number.
VIEW ALL of YOUR SHIPMENTS IN ONE PLACE
In a live shipment’s dashboard, you’ll also be able to:
Download all relevant documentation as soon as it's made available, such as proof of deliveries and export declarations.
Stop a Shipment. When you stop a shipment, we’ll do our best to prevent it from progressing to the next step. In most instances, we can usually stop the shipment unless it's already been delivered. If we can’t, we’ll let you know right away.
View Warehouse Inbounds. When you have your equipment shipped to an FGX facility for processing, you can submit tracking information to us directly through the Warehouse Inbounds tab. This allows our team to immediately check-in and process your shipments when they arrive at our facility.
Building the future of enterprise global IT logistics
The FGX Platform will provide us with a modern and efficient way to deliver enterprise grade, global IT logistics solutions to your team. Although we have a long way to go to achieve our mission, we believe that this is a significant milestone. We’re excited to get this into your hands, hear what you think, and build with you in the coming months and years. While this is an exciting end to a year of design and development, it’s also just the beginning for what we have in mind for the future of global IT logistics.
We’re starting the rollout of the FGX Platform today. If you’re interested in exploring whether FGX is a good fit for your enterprise, please reach out to us through this page. If you want to receive future updates, be sure to subscribe to our product newsletter.