Leveraging AI to Streamline Operations, Mitigate Risk, and Improve Customer Service
April 13, 2023
The freight forwarding industry is faced with a number of logistics challenges, including cooperation with various stakeholders, customs clearance, and optimizing transportation routes, to name a few. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in implementing AI technologies to improve cost-effectiveness, safety, and efficiency and enhance the customer experience. European freight forwarders are increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence for risk management, streamlining operations, and customer service.
Streamlining Operations
Leveraging predictive analytics and big data, artificial intelligence can analyze market trends, historical data, and factors such as trade regulations, holidays, and weather conditions, helping forwarders to forecast service demand. Predictive analytics can be used for route optimization as well, factoring in data such as delivery time windows, distance, transportation costs, and traffic conditions. This can help freight forwarders find optimal routes, improve on-time delivery and reduce transportation costs. In addition, artificial intelligence can help with carrier selection by analyzing factors like service coverage and geographical reach, capacity availability, market rates, and transit times. Lastly, AI can assist forwarders with customs clearance and compliance with regulatory requirements. It can extract data from packing lists, invoices, and other shipping documents to automate the preparation of reports and customs declarations while verifying compliance with customs requirements.
Risk Management
Predictive analytics can help European logistics businesses with risk management in a number of ways. First, it can track data about previous risk incidents such as disruptions, theft, damages, delays, and accidents. AI can then identify the root causes, along with trends and patterns, to help forwarders minimize and anticipate future risks. Second, AI can analyze satellite images, maps, and other geospatial data to identify risk areas like those with adverse weather, areas at risk of natural disasters, and such with security breach reports and high crime rates. This can help freight forwarders to assess risks, optimize routes, and avoid disruptions and delivery delays.
Customer Service
Artificial intelligence platforms and tools can help improve collaboration and communication between customers, carriers, and forwarders, thus ensuring seamless coordination. AI can also analyze shipment data and customer behavior to help logistics companies make informed decisions about service offerings, pricing, and consumer segmentation, resulting in enhanced customer experiences. Lastly, AI can assist service providers with complaint management by analyzing reviews, complaints, and feedback. These insights will allow forwarders to address concerns and improve the customer experience. In addition, AI can categorize feedback and complaints into segments such as service quality, billing issues, damages, and delays. This can help providers prioritize resolution based on type, issue, and urgency.
Furthermore, AI tools can be used to create a knowledge database of complaints, actions taken, solutions, and outcomes. It can include details such as who was tasked with the resolution, what was the response time, and changes and process improvements that can help prevent complaints. This knowledge database can be used by customer service representatives to ensure a more efficient and faster response to complaints.
