Some thoughts shared by our CEO, Jacob

1. What is the most important role that you play as CEO and Owner at PNO?

Setting the direction for PNO and ensuring that we are a healthy organization in terms of People, Planet, and Profit. Our purpose is to lead the transition to sustainable freight and this is a commitment that sets the standard of everything we do.
Our success and competitiveness are based on several circumstances, and one of them is the focus based on the 80-20 rule. Spend our time on the 20% of things that create the 80% impact – and avoid spending time on the 80% that results in the 20% impact.

2. What are some of the most exciting developments you see in the market?

One of the most exciting developments is the combination of our customers and the market being more curious and realizing the value of digital tools. PNO’s damage app was born out of the need to deliver a smart tool that makes it possible to lower the downtime by doing fast trailer inspections. A quick 2-minutes digital check before going on the road with the trailer. Telematics is another interesting area, where it is used for more than just positioning, as it is utilized for collecting data making it possible to increase the trailer’s uptime and utilization.

3. What is top of mind this quarter?

We are fully focused on preparing for entering PNO Germany. It is a big and complex market, which is a natural next step to expand our business into. It has been in the making for some time now, and we look forward to this chapter. And second, my focus is very much centered around the utilization of our digital offering. Our in-house innovation hub, PNO Ventures, is developing easy and smart digital solutions that are at the core of our strategy.

4. How has COVID-19 changed your business?

COVID-19 challenged the readiness of the business. Like so many other businesses, we felt and feel the effects of COVID-19. We have been actively helping customers in the period in different ways. We need to ensure that we get through this together and collectively for the long term.
The way we operate and run our business has not changed, which comes down to the tough learnings gained from the last financial crisis. One of the many takeaways from the crisis in 2008-09 is the importance of having a financial backup plan. We are a family run and owned company and we have been through ups and downs, and that will continue as that is the rhythm of running a business.  We need to ensure to be a healthy organization, especially in good times as that will give us the necessary resilience and readiness to weather unknown storms like COVID-19.