CIOTechOutlook recognised SFL Tech among its Top 10 SCM Technology Providers in 2021 — an early acknowledgement of the logistics expertise, CargoWise capability and customer focus that would go on to shape SFL’s global growth.
In 2021, SFL Tech was still relatively early in its journey.
The company had started with five people in 2017. By 2020, that team had grown to more than 70 specialists, serving logistics businesses across more than 40 countries. CargoWise consulting and optimisation sat at the centre of its work, supported by technology development and a service model built around staying close to the customer.
That was the business CIOTechOutlook recognised when it named Soft Freight Logic one of its Top 10 SCM Technology Providers for 2021.
The timing is worth remembering.
Supply chains were emerging from one of the most disruptive periods in recent history. Logistics businesses were under pressure to digitise faster, improve visibility, protect continuity and reduce the operational dependence on manual processes that had become particularly exposed during COVID-19.
CIOTechOutlook’s 2021 assessment reflected that shift. Its SCM Technology list focused on providers capable of helping businesses improve visibility, continuity and technology adoption at a time when those capabilities were moving rapidly from transformation ambitions to operating requirements.
For SFL, the recognition centred on something the company had been building from the beginning: combining technology capability with an understanding of how freight operations actually work.
Logistics Knowledge Before Technology for Technology’s Sake
In the original CIOTechOutlook feature, Co-Founder Raja Ratandeep pointed to the expertise inside the team as one of SFL’s strongest differentiators.
“Our professional experts are the main driver of our sales.”
— Raja Ratandeep, Co-Founder, SFL Tech
His point was less about headcount than about domain knowledge.
SFL had been built around people who understood logistics operations and could translate that understanding into technology decisions. Rather than approaching CargoWise as a standalone software platform, the team worked with customers around the processes, operational requirements and business problems sitting behind it.
That combination became increasingly important as freight forwarders asked more from their technology environments.
Implementing software was one part of the requirement. Making it work across forwarding, finance, integrations, users and customer processes was another.
The 2021 feature highlighted SFL’s work across CargoWise consulting and enhancements, custom technology and ongoing customer support. It also reflected the company’s growing geographic reach, with customers already being supported well beyond the countries in which SFL had physical teams.
Growth Without Losing the Customer Lens
One of Raja’s comments in the original article has aged particularly well:
“Our responsive and collaborative team always goes the extra mile to make sure every part of the customers’ experience is seamless.”
The language belongs to an earlier chapter of SFL, but the underlying principle remains relevant.
As SFL grew, the proposition became considerably more specialised.
Today, the business operates as a Platinum CargoWise Partner, with seven Platinum competencies and capabilities spanning CargoWise implementation and optimisation, supply-chain transformation, integrations, automation and continuous operational support. SFL now reports 800+ global projects, 250+ clients, 100+ team members and delivery across 50+ countries.
CargoWise’s current partner directory lists SFL with Platinum competencies across Accounting, Customs, Forwarding, Global Rollouts and Integration, with certified capability extending across every major global region.
The business is larger, but more importantly, its role has become deeper.
What began largely around CargoWise consultancy and enhancement has developed into work across the wider operating environment: assessing processes, designing implementations, connecting systems and partners, automating workflows, supporting global rollouts and helping customers continue to improve after go-live.
From Early Recognition to a More Defined Position
The 2021 recognition is useful not because it proves what SFL is today.
It shows what was already becoming visible then.
The company was growing quickly, but its proposition was already anchored in a specific market: logistics and supply chain technology. Its people brought operational knowledge into technology delivery. CargoWise was becoming central to the practice. And the business was already serving customers far beyond its original geographic footprint.
Five years later, that direction is much more defined.
SFL’s current model follows a broader journey from transformation strategy through implementation, connectivity and continuous optimisation. The aim is no longer simply to help logistics businesses use technology; it is to align systems, processes and people so the technology performs at operational scale.
That makes the CIOTechOutlook recognition an interesting marker in SFL’s history.
In 2021, the publication recognised a fast-growing logistics technology company with deep domain knowledge and an expanding global footprint.
Today, those same foundations support a much larger CargoWise and supply-chain transformation practice.
Then and Now
2021
70+ specialists
Customers served across 42+ countries
Growing CargoWise consultancy and technology practice
Recognised among CIOTechOutlook’s Top 10 SCM Technology Providers
Today
100+ specialists
250+ clients
800+ global projects
50+ countries
7× Platinum CargoWise competencies
The Direction Has Changed in Scale, Not in Principle
Recognition matters most when it captures something that continues to hold true after the headline has passed.
For SFL, the business described by CIOTechOutlook in 2021 was still developing its global footprint and service portfolio. But several of the ideas underneath it were already clear: specialise in logistics, build deep expertise, stay close to the customer and use technology to solve operating problems rather than introduce more complexity.
The years since have added scale, stronger CargoWise credentials and a much broader transformation capability.
The principle underneath the growth has remained remarkably consistent.
SFL Tech continues to build around logistics businesses — and around the systems, processes and people that determine how those businesses perform.
Read the original CIOTechOutlook feature: https://www.ciotechoutlook.com/functions/supply-chain-management/vendor/2021/soft_freight_logic
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