Not your typical “Linkedin Job Change” Announcement

I don’t know about you, but when I see colleagues announce that they are switching companies, careers or industries on Linkedin, the automated “Joe is now Head of Services at Software Industries” announcement doesn’t give me a full opportunity to understand why they made the chane or what their new passion is.

These quick updates always leave me with more questions than answers, and since educating and informing your professional network on the status of your work is a primary function of Linkedin, such basic job change announcements fall a little short.

As I announce a significant change and milestone in my career, here’s my attempt to add some context to the one-line status update that might pop up in your feed or inbox.

After 14 years in the retail industry and over seven years as an e-commerce retailer, I’ve taken on a significant consulting role with Shipwire.

Shipwire is a leader in global order fulfillment. It’s a company that has an amazing culture and a tremendous amount of talented people with whom I’ve forged strong professional relationships over the past five years. Before joining Shipwire, I was one of their customers — the customer you could call “the squeaky wheel.”

Over time, I became good friends with the team at Shipwire and when the opportunity arrived, I was excited to join their mission to tackle the way that the industry approaches order fulfillment.

Why?

For several years now, I’ve felt that the fulfillment side of the e-commerce industry is not keeping up with the front end of the business. As businesses become more mature with Conversion Rate Optimization, SEM, SEO and all the other aspects that are driving massive increases in sales, logistics and fulfillment industries are struggling to keep pace.

To illustrate my point, just look the press around Cyber Monday and the 2014 holiday season. Essentially, the e-commerce industry crushed fulfillment networks across the globe, causing delayed shipments and failed delivery promises. In the future, it’s going to take scale, technology, platform thinking and a customer-first mindset to give brands and retailers the solutions they need for a reliable and transparent fulfillment network.

My personal goal in e-commerce has always been to challenge the way things “need” to be done, and instead, find the way they “should” be done so that consumers get the best online shopping experience possible, from the home page of a webstore all the way to their front doors.

By working with Shipwire, I’m aligning with an organization that is heading in that direction and has the ability to make an global impact across small, medium and enterprise businesses. I’m excited to play a small role in what Shipwire and the whole Ingram Micro family are going to accomplish.

Click here to see what Shipwire is all about in this video

As a global e-fulfillment powerhouse, the Shipwire platform helps thousands of established and emerging brands, suppliers and retailers access the same tools and services as Fortune 100 companies. The company’s mission is simply to enable enterprise class fulfillment and logistics to businesses of all sizes, at a global scale.

Shipwire delivers on this promise, no question. I can say this with confidence from the perspective of a longtime customer, and now from perspective of an insider; I’ve seen how Shipwire continues to innovate and disrupt the industry. More recently, as part of Ingram Micro, Shipwire is poised to change the way businesses approach global commerce and fulfillment.

I hope some of you share my curiosity for more context around job change announcements, and that this note has answered some of your questions about where I’m headed and why. Consider this an invitation to reach out to me if you ever want to chat about the e-commerce industry, fulfillment, business or technology. Warning: I can talk for hours!

Sincerely,

Tony Holbrook
Solving E-commerce Challenges

This article first appeared on linkedin.com on March 31, 2015