As so often seems the case , it was exasperation that acted as the catalyst for a company – in this case Slync – to be conceived . Chris Kirchner was the Senior VP of Sales & Marketing for a label converter supplying several large automotive and manufacturing businesses in Asia , meaning a lot of product was being shipped into locations as far afield as Cebu , Hong Kong and Shenzhen . It was a source of constant annoyance , says Kirchner . “ I became really frustrated with some of the software that we had to use . We were using eight different systems to enable our customers to buy from us , because we had to make sure it worked with their ERP or procurement software ,” he recalls . “ Then when we actually shipped the product , dealing with customs and freight forwarders . The experience motivated Kirchner to scour the market for better software solutions , only to find there were none . He remembers thinking : “ Okay , somebody needs to do something here ”, and adds : “ I ’ ve always had a tendency towards entrepreneurship , so I thought ‘ I ’ m going to build it ’ – but I ’ m not a software guy .” He turned to Raj Patel , who at the time was a Senior Director , Einstein AI for Saleforce , with whom he had implemented the Einstein AI technology initiative for his previous employer . “ I gave him a call to ask if he could recom-

“ The media hype is huge , but the reality is that we ’ re a long way from blockchain and the like being used in a widespread manner ”