# Sudhanshu Heda

Sudhanshu Heda writes about building Sidecar, an AI product for freight forwarders. His posts focus on using AI to handle routine work such as quoting and email, so forwarding teams can spend more time on customer advice and decisions that need their judgment.

- Profile: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/creators/sudhanshu-heda/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sudhanshu-heda
- Median of last 8 posts: 18 reactions, 0 comments (checked 2026-11-02)
- Topics: artificial-intelligence, supply-chain, ai-agents, ai-adoption
- Based on 11 dated posts, latest 2026-10-09

## Summary

Sudhanshu Heda is most useful for practical thought leadership on preparing freight forwarding desks for AI adoption.

- Best for: Freight technology brands needing practical thought leadership about AI adoption for forwarding desks.
- Not for: Consumer lifestyle campaigns and ready-made creator sponsorship packages.
- Check first: Confirm whether they have a sponsorship package and audience demographics.

### Takeaways

- Two pricers can quote the same lane differently when rates are scattered.
- He says written procedures, organized data access, and saved hours and cost come before AI.
- Glottis reports quoting 3.4 times faster; Logistic Integrators processes three times as many inquiries.

## Main ideas

- **Fix the desk before automating it**: Heda's most repeated claim is that AI tools fail in freight forwarding for operational reasons rather than technical ones. Two pricers on the same desk will quote one lane in slightly different ways because rates sit in shared inboxes and old spreadsheets; an AI tool layered on top of that becomes something nobody uses. The sequence Heda prescribes is to write the standard operating procedures down and make sure the desk follows them, to know where the company's data sits and who should have access to it, and to stay return-driven by measuring what the tool saves in desk hours and cost. The reasoning is narrow and mechanical: a model can only act on data it can reach, so access and order come before capability.
- **Automate the routine inbox so forwarders can work as consultants**: The case for AI here is a change in the job, not only a cost saving. A forwarding desk spends most of its day in the inbox, so the shipper who wants supply-chain advice rarely gets it because the team is busy answering routine emails. Once AI takes that email load off the desk, Heda argues, the team can help shippers plan routes that cut fuel costs and balance warehouse supply against demand. Heda rates the shift as deep as the one electricity had, and ties it directly to what Sidecar is being built for, which places the ambition before the product detail.
- **Vendors carry part of the blame when AI disappoints buyers**: Asked about the biggest mistakes businesses make when investing in AI, Heda names two. The first is treating AI as an add-on rather than building the company around it so it helps every part of the business. The second is expecting returns straight away instead of assessing what AI can actually do, giving it access to the right data, and letting the vendor set expectations for the result from the start. That last point is an admission that sellers contribute to failed purchases, which makes the argument more specific than a general endorsement of the technology.
- **Freight is not a 'single-turn' task, and Heda says the technology is still far out**: One post sets a sceptical expectation. Global supply chains, Heda argues, are not run on single-turn tasks and therefore are not constrained by raw model intelligence; they run on people coordinating through emails, phone calls, and tacit know-how to move freight between countries. Heda frames the purpose of developing the team as answering one question — how soon a model can act as a remote co-worker inside a logistics company — and gives the initial answer as still far out.
- **Prove the argument with a named customer and one measured number**: The recurring method of proof is to name the customer, give a single improvement figure, and then say where the time saved goes — almost always back into customer and partner relationships. The pattern is consistent across customers, which is what makes it a position rather than a one-off announcement. The numbers are the company's own reported results, not independent measurements.
- **Recruit people who shaped the industry to carry the case**: Advisor announcements are built on a career summary plus one quotation, so credibility is borrowed from the individual's record rather than from product detail. The guests, not Heda, make the comparisons that give the argument its scale.
- **Take the argument into the rooms where freight already meets**: Industry bodies and conferences are a recurring route to the audience. Heda announces attendance and speaking slots, uses event sessions to describe what forwarding teams are already doing with AI, and treats the trade press that covers those sessions as an extension of the argument. The reasoning that links these appearances back to the product claim appears in the Breakbulk write-up: customs reform and freight crime shared the conference agenda with AI, and both depend on accurate data captured early, most of which still arrives by email.

## Work to read

- [Three practical steps before a forwarding desk adopts AI](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sudhanshu-heda_two-pricers-on-the-same-desk-will-often-quote-activity-7513976723919699968-gvry)
- [From inbox work to advisory work: the case for changing the desk's job](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sudhanshu-heda_a-forwarding-desk-spends-most-of-its-day-activity-7517955286347907074-vIEZ)
- [The two mistakes he says businesses make with AI investment](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sudhanshu-heda_forwarders-adding-ai-on-top-of-a-desk-that-activity-7514335168720027648-vQwh)
- [Glottis: quoting 3.4x faster across a 2,000-customer book](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sudhanshu-heda_for-more-than-two-decades-glottis-limited-activity-7520812889423671299-ANCT)
- [Logistic Integrators: three times the inquiries at the same pricing desk](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sudhanshu-heda_every-shipment-logistic-integrators-i-pvt-activity-7515731971470200834-apAO)
- [Why he thinks freight is not a 'single-turn' task for AI](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sudhanshu-heda_global-supply-chains-are-not-run-on-single-turn-activity-7522755275049594881-QShz)
- [Bringing on John D. McCown and the container-shipping comparison](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sudhanshu-heda_its-a-privilege-to-have-john-d-mccown-join-activity-7519053224713207809-Q_GM)
- [The LINK Logistics network and how partner distribution is described](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sudhanshu-heda_sunil-has-been-a-believer-in-sidecar-from-activity-7505844439072841728-h4rV)

## Brand relationships

- **Sidecar** (owned_business)
- **British International Freight Association (BIFA)** (mention)
- **Glottis Limited** (client)
- **Logistic Integrators (I) Pvt Ltd** (client)
- **LINK Logistics International Network** (client)
- **The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA)** (mention)

## Partnerships

The reviewed material does not document a sponsorship offer, rate card, or creator-partnership package from Sudhanshu Heda. What it does show is Sidecar's vendor-side relationships and Heda's own speaking activity in freight forwarding. Heda publishes customer results for Sidecar: Glottis Limited, a freight forwarder serving over 2,000 customers for more than two decades, quotes 3.4x faster with Sidecar on its pricing desk; Logistic Integrators (I) Pvt Ltd, moving freight for customers in more than 90 countries since 2009, processes 3x as many inquiries; and the LINK Logistics International Network, 65 partners across 64 countries, is adopting Sidecar's AI agents. Sidecar has also brought on named strategic advisors, including John D. McCown for the US and Kurt Leidinger for Europe. On the speaking side, Heda appeared at the BIFA National Conference 2026, was interviewed by BIFA TV, and planned to attend the TIACA Air Cargo Forum in Miami Beach. For a brand planning a campaign, the observable routes run through Sidecar's commercial relationships and industry events rather than a published creator sponsorship programme. No audience-deliverable spec, disclosure policy, pricing, or partnership inquiry form appears in the reviewed posts, and no official partnership inquiry route was verified. That absence is a gap to resolve directly with Heda before committing budget; it is not evidence that no such offer exists.

## Alternatives

- Sushanth Raman: Sushanth Raman is the better editorial choice for the same freight technology brief when the buyer wants to reach supply chain IT, enterprise architecture, or operations governance leaders rather than the forwarding desk itself. The reviewed posts focus on AI agents as active participants in enterprise systems and on defining what each agent is allowed to do. One concrete example says a quoting agent may retrieve rates and generate a quote, but it should not be able to create an order. Another post says Pallet built a practical framework to help IT teams safely scale agent deployments. For a campaign about governing agents that touch inventory, customer commitments, costs, and downstream operations, that material is closer to the buyer task than Heda's desk-readiness posts. The reviewed set also adds a founder's-office and talent-density angle, naming people hired to work on AI ROI, zero-to-one ideas, commercial partnerships, and new markets.
- Kortney Harmon: Kortney Harmon is the better choice for the same freight technology brief if the company expands the target from logistics decision-makers to staffing, recruiting, and B2B services leaders who sell to operations and procurement teams, and if the thought-leadership topic becomes AI-driven discovery and sales follow-up rather than desk readiness. The reviewed posts are built around a recruiting-industry show, why staffing firms use AI wrong in sales and marketing, why AI needs more than a basic prompt, buyers making decisions before they talk to sales, a campaign that reclaimed $1.1 million in revenue, and building AI into repeatable systems. Another post says buyers ask AI who to trust and that showing up in Google is no longer enough; firms also need authority and visibility inside AI tools and AI Overviews.
- Mike Molinari: Mike Molinari is the better choice for the same freight technology brief when the campaign's job is conference follow-up and early procurement relationships, not AI readiness on a forwarding desk. The reviewed posts advise sending the article or talk the next day, remembering what a contact is stuck on and asking about it weeks later, introducing people even when it does nothing for the sender, and skipping the deck or pitch until asked. Another post argues agencies should meet procurement before the contract and fee, because by contract time the room is haggling over a number and nobody knows the problem that number solves. For a freight technology brand at BIFA, TIACA, or a similar event, that is a usable follow-up and relationship-building angle.

---
AI-assisted summary of public posts. Audience demographics are not available. Engagement appears only where we checked recent posts. Method: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/methodology/