Artificial Intelligence Is Critical In Today’s Workflow Solutions
For companies operating in the transportation marketplace, speed and accuracy are paramount. Carriers and shippers alike are continually on the lookout for ways to be faster, less expensive and more efficient — to the point where standard delivery seems to mirror expedited shipping.
As the industry moves faster and faster, the documents and data generated grow at an exponential rate. Managing these documents often requires manual processes that are time-consuming and can bring any efforts to maximize efficiency to a standstill. The answer isn’t to work harder but to work smarter. To avoid wasting time and resources on document processing, it is crucial for every transportation company to update document and data management strategies.
The transportation industry is in the midst of an artificial intelligence (AI) renaissance. Everything from workflow solutions to fleet management and financial decisions can be streamlined using an AI-based automated content management system (CMS).
A CMS is a software application that is used to manage a company’s digital content. Transportation companies rely on a CMS to upload, process and distribute the countless documents and data involved in the shipping process. These software applications must be able to interpret data quickly without compromising accuracy.
“Transportation organizations need to start applying more technology to manage and react to data,” said Larry Kerr, president and CEO of EBE Technologies. “In many cases, having the data and not reacting is worse than not having the data at all.”
EBE Technologies provides automated workflow solutions for the transportation and logistics industry. The East Moline, Illinois-based company’s SHIPS enterprise business process management solution is utilized by more than 600 transportation companies.
It goes without saying that everyone in transportation wants to achieve efficiency, reduce unnecessary costs and improve billing accuracy, but not all believe they have the power to upgrade. The truth, however, is that it’s never been easier for transportation companies to utilize an AI-powered CMS.
Convincing companies to adopt AI workflow solutions is not difficult, according to Kerr.
“Recently, many of our clients have been affected by rising insurance costs,” Kerr said. “Rates have been softer, which means the additional revenue to cover such costs must come from improvements in operating efficiencies.”
However, simply using any CMS isn’t sufficient to manage workflows effectively. Some transportation companies are unaware of the additional operating costs associated with the use of their current systems. Many such systems lack the ability to provide interoperability among companies’ critical systems. In fact, market research firm IDC estimates that companies lose 20-30% in revenue every year due to inefficiencies related to process and content management.
The use of a CMS does save employees a tremendous amount of time from the often tedious process of manually routing documents and entering data. However, these systems may still require each transaction to be manually processed, ensuring it’s routed safely to the proper department or critical system. According to an EBE Technologies white paper, a CMS with the power of AI workflows allows transportation providers to work by exception. Through this process, only out-of-standard transactions require staff intervention. AI allows providers to staff for exception levels, not 100% of the transaction levels.
