HYPE VS. REALITY
accessing all of it from our own systems,” says Megan Orth, senior director of commercial connectivity at C.H. Robinson. “We can tell the customer, ‘If you can’t invest in a TMS, that’s okay. We will give you the same experience.’” As of October 2024, C.H. Robinson was using its new technology to respond to emailed pricing requests and load tenders. It’s also piloting the use of generative AI to interact with carriers that aren’t sending automated status updates. The company reported in October that it was using AI to deliver 2,600 quotes daily, with a 32-second response time, and taking 90 seconds each to process 5,500 shipment orders daily. Applying AI to these transactions makes them more accurate as well as faster. Automation also frees account agents to focus on high-value activities rather than routine tasks. “Everybody’s learning every day how to apply AI where it makes sense,” Orth says. “AI is not a buzzword. It is real. It works.” ■
shippers still prefer unstructured forms of communication, especially email. When a shipper sends an email to request a quote or ask when a shipment will arrive, someone on the provider’s staff must query a digital system, retrieve the results, and send an email reply. To speed up those routine transactions, third-party logistics
6. How well does the system manage customization and scalability? The technology should be customizable to meet your organization’s specific needs and help it grow over time. Startups and smaller businesses need platforms that can be configured to help them solve the problems they have right now and into the future as they achieve success and scale. Even larger, more established businesses can always WHAT’S UP NEXT? The first wave of AI solutions for the supply chain focuses largely on helping humans do their work better, whether by supporting decision-making or automating routine tasks, says Katelyn Foley, president of UP.Labs. For future applications, one of the next steps will be to integrate AI with hardware— for example, in an automated warehouse. “There’s promise in humanoid robots,” Foley says. AI could also be applied to “digital twins,” creating digital models of supply chain networks and using them to run scenarios that can, for example, calculate the risk that a natural disaster or political upheaval will disrupt supply from a particular vendor. “It would start out small: looking at this network or your full supply chain, what are the most critical vendors?” says Louis Matthews, venture CEO at UP.Labs. “And then expand it out to Tier 2 and Tier 3.” Other possible uses for AI that UP.Labs plans to explore include cyber security and the physical security of freight in transit.
company C.H. Robinson has developed proprietary AI-based
technology that reads incoming emails, extracts the pertinent information and ful lls the shipper’s request. It does this even when the email lacks some of the necessary details—for example, if the message says, “What will it cost to ship 20 pallets of widgets to our customer in Omaha?” Like a human agent who has been serving the same account for years, the AI lls in data such as the customer’s address and the weight of the widgets. “We use the AI to not only read the emails but also to get into the data,
a new system can be integrated and running. Connectivity is one of the highest priorities for tech buyers. End users don’t want to visit multiple interfaces and dashboards that interrupt their existing workflows, but rather look for ways to supercharge existing technology investments.
The technology should make the user’s lives easier, not harder. When a solution is easily integrated into a company’s current tech stack, the benefits of the new technology should be immediate without sacrificing eciency. . Can your team help us embrace and manage change? Even when a solution fits smoothly into your current tech stack, there will inevitably be a transition period. Team members must learn to use the technology, and incorporate the new tools, data, and information. Sometimes it may require a new way of thinking and carrying out day-to- day operations. At this point in vendor selection, it’s important to talk to the vendor’s references to learn more about the implementation process and learn more about the ongoing support that they will provide during the ramp-up period as well as ongoing. Ask about post-deployment engagement levels, support, and overall satisfaction. Clarify customer support capabilities and dedicated teams and how they di er under various pricing plans. A vendor that provides ongoing support and invests in the success of the user’s organization is the mark of a true partner.
continue to optimize operations and uncover new growth opportunities. Ask vendors how their solution can help support growth including the implications such as acquiring a new company or including more data points. In addition, ask about the vendor’s roadmap and path to growth, what new solutions they are looking to add in the future, and how those can support your company. . What can I start doing to prepare? This isn’t necessarily a question to ask of a vendor, but rather of your internal team. The most successful implementations are the ones where the customer is aware of how the technology can transform the business and that starts at the executive level. Even if you aren’t ready to immediately implement a new solution, it’s still possible to plan for the future. Think about which data points are important, how you’re entering the data, how operators are putting information into comment fields, how communication is happening throughout the supply chain, and where operations can be transformed.
108 Inbound Logistics • January 2025
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