As work continued to progress with RPA technology in order entry and the customs and operations departments, Cox and Brajkovich created a new business entity in 2018 called NorthStar Digital Solutions.
Rather than place PTG’s growing technology team into an IT department, which carries a perception as a cost center, the executives wanted technology workers to have a sense of ownership and be perceived as “a bunch of smart people trying to improve processes,” Brajkovich says.
Cox and Brajkovich also saw an opportunity for NorthStar Digital Solutions to develop technology that could benefit other motor carriers, freight forwarders and even businesses in other industries. While PTG is its largest customer, NorthStar Digital Solutions has added capacity to develop and support solutions for other clients.
As part of PTG’s digital transformation, Cox renovated the office with an open area to give it a modern feel. NorthStar Digital Solutions is located in the new addition, which has a Digital Laboratory for executives and technology and front-line office workers to gather at any time of day.
“This is our creation room where we do brainstorming,” Brajkovich says, pointing to walls in the Digital Laboratory that are painted for the whiteboarding of ideas, projects and tasks. “The inspiration that this has created is massive.”
The ultimate goal for NorthStar Digital Solutions, Brajkovich says, is to develop the capabilities for “complete order-to-cash automation” of freight transactions. People always will be needed to manage exceptions and “pull the switches and levers,” he says, but technology can remove the mundane, repetitive work.
The Digital Laboratory currently is testing new technologies the company is planning to roll out. One of the top priorities is to go live with a barcode- and document-scanning application for drivers that will help to further digitize the workforce and workflow.
