How Patika Cut Operator Workload in Half

A cargo ship sits at port. The maintenance window is open. The spare part is somewhere in transit—cleared, loaded, airborne—but nobody on Patika's team is at their desk to confirm it.

That used to be the gap. Now it is filled.

‍"A delayed part does not just mean a delayed delivery—it means an idle ship, a disrupted voyage schedule, and costs that compound by the hour."

The Customer

Patika is a freight forwarder specializing in a category where timelines are non-negotiable: spare parts and components delivered to ships. Their customers are vessel operators and fleet managers who run on tight maintenance windows.

Patika manages most of these shipments via air cargo and air freight, utilizing Modaltrans as their TMS. Speed is the primary product they sell.

The Challenge

Sustaining Proactive Communication

Patika's operators are skilled, experienced, and committed. But they were the only link between live shipment data and the customers who needed it. Every status update, every document request, and every "where is it now?" call had to pass through a human—strictly during business hours, at whatever bandwidth the team had available that day.

Service quality varied with workload. When operators were stretched, response times stretched with them. Customers who needed answers at midnight got silence until morning, because ships do not run on office schedules.

The result: customers chasing their own shipments instead of focusing on their operations, and operators spending a growing share of their time on communication tasks instead of actual freight management.

The Stakes Were High by Design

Patika's customers are not just waiting on a package; they are waiting on a part that keeps a vessel operational. Maintenance-critical deliveries mean every hour of uncertainty has a real cost in downtime, scheduling disruption, and trust.

A forwarder that cannot provide real-time visibility in this environment does not just lose a customer. They lose the relationship.

The Solution

Patika integrated Alaka.AI as the invisible communication layer between their TMS and their customers.

• Omnichannel Automation: Alaka.AI connects directly to Modaltrans, reads live shipment data, and responds to customer inquiries instantly with accurate, up-to-date information.
• Zero Friction: Customers can reach the Alaka.AI agent through WhatsApp or email. The agent auto-detects who they are from the message source—no registration, no verification questions. They get straight to the answer.
• Milestone Alerts: Proactive notifications went from aspirational to operational. Alaka.AI monitors the full shipment journey in real time and automatically triggers alerts for flight departures, customs clearance, and out-for-delivery statuses. Customers don't need to check in; the update finds them.

"Alaka.AI handles the communication layer so Patika's operators can focus on what they are actually there to do: getting the right part to the right ship at the right time."

The Results

1. 50% Reduction in Operator Workload

The volume of inbound status inquiries, document requests, and manual update tasks dropped by half. Operators reclaimed time they previously spent on communication, redirecting it toward exception handling, problem-solving, and managing complex shipments that actually require human judgment.

2. 24/7 Customer Support Without Expanding the Team

Patika's customers now have access to shipment information and documents anytime—including evenings, weekends, and outside of business hours. For vessel operators working across time zones, this fundamentally upgraded the service experience.

3. Consistent Service Quality at Any Scale

Service level no longer fluctuates with team capacity. Customers get the exact same speed and accuracy of response whether Patika is handling five active shipments or fifty.

What Changed?

The nature of Patika's business has not changed—they still move time-critical cargo by air to vessels around the world. What changed is that their customers no longer feel like they are chasing their shipments. For a forwarder whose entire value proposition is speed and reliability, that distinction is everything.

Note: Patika is an Alaka.AI pilot customer. Results reflect operational data from the initial deployment period.