Like the Industrial movement, the IT movement began as a mass technological growth, offering the ability to turn every business, in any industry, into a high-functioning, powerhouse network of communication, amped-up security and high-capacity data-storage system. But we haven’t stopped there.
At the same time Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) were also being developed at a slower rate based on needing a hefty IT foundation. AI has become the next ‘big thing’ offering the ability to once again turn every business, in any industry into a high-performance, cost-effective and global market-driven entity.
For supply, logistics and transportation industries, by using your IT infrastructure as a base, the natural progression is to integrate AI. Large quantities of data collected from the logistics and supply chain, once analyzed, can facilitate revenue and efficiencies in areas such as R&D, supply chain operations and customer service.
Is it that easy? No. But you have to start somewhere and it’s all about the journey, right?
Next steps:
Use your current data. Whether you have an antiquated infrastructure or the latest shiny, new, turbo-charged infrastructure, you have a lot of data that can be put to good use to anticipate challenges and come up with solutions before they affect your workflow and delivery.
Gather Big Data. Get it analyzed faster with AI systems in place. As you gather more data, results and analytics in key areas of your company will provide a much more accurate insight to reveal weaknesses, strengths, areas of growth and areas to avoid. Forecasting becomes more accurate.
Consider the source. Gathering clean data is imperative, so for logistics when tapping into multiple sources, AI utilizes algorithms to filter through and distinguish quality data to aid in transparent solutions for decision-making.
Stay connected. For departmental cross-functional use, AI linked to your IT infrastructure through supply chain to distribution to accounts and customer service allows orders to be readily verified and potential problems negated from order to production to delivery.
Tap into the system. Technology that incorporates AI Visual Inspection can identify product damage before it goes out and then Robotic Sorting aids in streamlining fulfillment and shipping.
Stay in touch. AI-enhanced customer service, while it seems impersonal, can enhance your customer service to those who need quick answers on shipments or other services with an option to be rerouted to a live customer service team for more specific needs.
The big picture. For global and territory applications AI is the key to analyzing large volumes of data for demand forecasting. At this level, business growth depends on AI.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in overall supply chain management is imperative for growth, customer service and overall cost reduction. But AI can’t thrive without a strong IT infrastructure with the capability to scale. IT is the base; computers, software integration and data transmission and without it, AI couldn’t thrive to benefit and drive operations, customer service and innovation. Keep your IT current as you invest in next steps of AI.
