Leading transport technology firm Forward Solutions has expanded its team, welcoming two new hugely experienced transport specialists, Chris Wood and Scott Manning. 

Forward Solutions is one of the longest-established freight software development companies, providing an end-to-end solution for a wide range of operators in the UK, Europe, Asia and the US. The company provides IT systems for leading multimodal players across air freight, sea freight, road freight and rail freight. 

Combined Scott and Chris bring over 40 years’ experience to Forward Solutions. In the new roles as Customer Success Managers (CSMs) both are focusing on supporting customers, looking at their short-term and long-term requirements and then using this to further enhance and develop the firm’s software. 

With decades of experience developing specialist IT for the sector, Forward Solutions understands the dynamic nature of the industry, the growing pressures operators are facing and is able to respond quickly to provide a range of software solutions in this ever-changing landscape. Over 3,000 users are actively utilising its products every day. 

Forward Solutions’ Forward Office is a flexible freight management software solution (FMS) which is continually strengthened.  At the core of Forward Office is Forward Core, which is supported by a suite of six additional products which can all be used independently. 

Chris Wood joins having worked as an IT Manager for International Forwarding, UK and European road freight specialists, for 14 years, a Forward Solutions customer.  

Having previously supported Forward Solutions as a Software Trainer, Chris was keen to join full time attracted by the firm’s innovations and investment in new product development and wanted to become more involved with a dedicated in-house team. 

The freight and transport industry has experienced huge changes in recent years, with Brexit effecting how international freight works, the pandemic decreasing the supply of containers and transport opportunities whilst demand keeps. The current challenge is UK customs shifting away from CHIEF and towards CDS  

Chris Wood, who’s based at Forward Solutions Nottingham headquarters said:

“It’s a great opportunity to join the team during this exciting time and I’m looking forward to helping customers to utilise our software.   

“It’s a dynamic time to be in the industry, there has been a massive growth in the supply chain and a wider shift towards using technology, and these trends aren’t slowing down. I’m in an ideal place to support both our existing customers and our newer ones.” 

Scott Manning, who is based in Kent and supports the growing number of southern customers, previously worked at leading logistics operator Europa Worldwide Group. 

Seeing the continual growth of Forward Solutions and having been an in-house IT Support Manager, he has the skills to help a variety of customers with their requirements. 

Scott, who supports the southern customers, added:

“Forward Solutions is in a wonderful position, with a growing customer base and innovative technology, I wanted to become a part of the team. 

“My new role involves talking with our customers, either helping them get full usage out of our software or if they have a unique requirement, I will relay it back to our development team.  

“I’m extremely proud to have the opportunity to work with such a forward-thinking software provider with huge aspirations who is continually moving ahead within our sector. Most recently tracking portals are at the forefront of our customers’ requirements and we are excited to be launching ours with a significant amount of functionality from the get-go.”  

Both Chris and Scott attended Multimodal 2022, the largest freight transport trade show in the UK, and had the opportunity to talk with customers about what Forward Solutions is working on and answer any questions they may have about the existing software. 

Richard Litchfield, Managing Director at Forward Solutions, said:

“Having both Chris and Scott join our team is great. The company is always moving forward and expanding so having two experts join us has helped us to continue to deliver fantastic support to our customers. 

“Our business is expanding, and we’ve spent a lot investing in our software to keep up with the increase in the markets demand. We recently made our biggest financial investment to keep up to date with the latest technology. 

“We developed an additional User Interface (UI) to utilise the existing feature-rich, solution which we recently rolled out to customers, and having Chris and Scott onboard allows us to continue to personalise our approach to helping and training our customers. 

“On top of this, they’ll be tremendous help delivering our future projects, Forward Vision and other work we have in the pipeline, it’s an exciting time to be in the freight software industry.” 

Both Chris and Scott are busy out of hours, with Scott spending time playing games with friends and Chris teaching fencing each week at the Nottingham Community Club.