2021 – a year of new things, but also of hard graft

Most of us are already off and running towards the new plans and challenges of 2022. Many of them follow on from the previous period. So with a few days' hindsight I would like to describe what happened at Neoship in 2021 and what is planned next …

A stormy spring

Our determination and enthusiasm were cooled right at the start of the year by the decision of two of Neoship's three co-owners to sell their stake in the company. I will not comment on the reasons. In a situation where you have a freshly „baked” plan for the whole year, in a job you enjoy and where your colleagues are also your friends, it is hard to describe how much this news hit us. After several rounds of talks with a number of companies, we have had a new co-owner since the summer and can once again fully focus on our goals and vision.

Despite that period of uncertainty, nobody on the team gave up, and I greatly appreciate my colleagues for it. We did everything we could not only to make sure no customer felt that something was going on inside the company, but also so that all of us kept working towards the goals we had set.

Our developers worked intensively on a new version of Neoship. It lets us implement new carriers faster and handle support more efficiently. Customers have a better overview of their shipments and finances, we improved and extended the functionality and modernised the visuals. By changing how we exchange data with carriers we wanted to make shipment delivery even more reliable.

Bright moments for me during this period were taking part in UPtalks with Kamil Aujeský on the topic Logistics and fulfilment: how to cope with seasonality?, and the win of our long-standing customer Autodiely Gafa in the Heureka Shoprok competition. Alongside three other awards they also became the overall winner in the quality category. It is a satisfaction for us and at the same time a huge commitment to be their dispatch partner.

A warm summer

• We launched the new version of Neoship and migrated the first customers.

• We took part in the Upterdam conference. A great event; meeting partners in person and making new contacts was a welcome change after a long time.

• We agreed on cooperation with Packeta and our developers started implementing it into Neoship.

A hot autumn

• We published our first e-book, „Step by step to the right dispatch solution”. In it you will find a comparison of courier companies in Slovakia, a helper for comparing quotations, tips on making dispatch more efficient and plenty of other useful information.

• We stepped up the migration of customers to the new Neoship and, together with our partners (above all CREATIVE sites, Neonus, SuperFaktúra and GT servis), we also worked on changes to existing integrations.

• Customers were able to use Packeta as another carrier alongside SPS and GLS from the end of October.

A Covid winter

• Almost 80% of customers had been migrated to the new version of Neoship by the end of November.

• Then came Black Friday, lockdown, a surge in shipments and „positive” staff dropping out at the carriers. The delivery standard changed from one day to 2–3. In some locations even longer. Our colleagues in customer service went flat out.

• In the top week of the year, from 13 December, I was in quarantine and from 16 December had Covid as well. Fortunately with a mild course and with excellent colleagues on the Neoship front line.

What else did this year bring us?

• Plenty of grey hairs for me, that is for sure :)
• We passed 1,100,000 € in revenue.
• The number of shipments grew by more than 20% compared with 2020.
• In total, more than 180 users used Neoship.
• At the end of the summer we welcomed a new colleague, a programmer, and later a salesperson too.

It may look like a successful year. But it was extremely demanding for every single one of us. Ivet and Janka did an incredible amount of hard work during the Christmas season and while migrating customers to the new version of Neoship. Our developers Laci and Mirec, and from September Lukáš as well, wrestled with the new Neoship, the Packeta implementation, plugin updates, technical support and „xy“ other matters. We had passionate debates about functionality, priorities, visions and bugs. We all tested, we thought everything was OK and even so we had to deal with a host of errors. Besides that, Ivet handled marketing activities, demonstration videos and putting the e-book together. We struggled with the sales position and lived in uncertainty for half a year.

You would have to know them to realise what great people and colleagues they are and how much they care about Neoship and about our customers.

What follows from all this?

Just as in a garden, in business too there comes a time when some branches have to be pruned, others cut down entirely and the soil dug over. Even though it is hard work and you have doubts, you do it in the hope that it will bring you a bigger harvest in the future. That is what 2021 was for us. I am convinced it tested the determination, loyalty, perseverance and professionalism of every one of us. We managed it together, because we are a team and we want to provide our customers with great services.

What are our ambitions for 2022?

• Implementing 123Kuriér and DPD, definitely. And others after that.

• Revenue of 1,800,000 € +

• 400,000 + shipments

• The rest stays a surprise :)

So keep your fingers crossed for us.

We wish you every success too – and stay healthy.