AI and automation aren’t here to replace humans entirely. It is an important tool for businesses to incorporate into their strategies to remain competitive, but it is still crucial to preserve a human touch.
One of the most important aspects of the new era of automation in logistics is how it is helping to mitigate supply chain disruptions and improve resilience, problems that have existed in the courier industry for years. Companies can utilise automation to make more informed decisions, improving overall efficiency.
The power of automation and human fusion
Modern supply chains are complex, with supply disruptions and ever evolving customer expectations. By fusing automation and a human touch, it can best utilise the strengths of both, creating a harmonious collaboration. Rather than viewing AI as a replacement for humans, it can be used to approach challenges as complementary partners.
AI has a role in supply chain management. This is especially the in areas of demand forecasting. Here, advanced technologies analyse historical data and market trends to improve the demand accuracy. It is also vital for inventory management. In these cases, AI algorithms can dynamically balance inventory across locations to minimise stockouts and overstocks. By incorporating AI technology into these areas of the supply chain, it can transform supply chain management, optimising at scale.
However, human judgment remains critical. AI may be powerful, but incorporating a human touch is crucial for effective strategic decision-making and ethical oversight. Humans provide contextual understanding with a long-term vision, inputting a strategy that AI can’t replicate to the same level.
In crisis management, human adaptability is also so important. Unprecedented situations that require a human to reply and respond to customers need to be empathetic and understanding, helping customers feel heard and seen, as well as mapping out a response strategy that can’t be replicated by automation.
Combining the two and integrating them into business strategies can help processes become efficient and seamless.
Leadership in the era of AI
Leadership remains critical as AI technologies become integrated into logistics and planning. A strong leadership team can determine the correct steps to take in an evolving and competitive environment, along with the right level of emotional intelligence.
Leaders must be able to lead people through disruption. Whereas AI can tackle the problem, leaders must communicate clearly with their teams and empower and reassure them.
As technology becomes more advanced and is implemented into business strategies, leaders must understand their teams’ varying levels of comfort with new technologies. By having nuanced empathy for each member, leadership can acknowledge how jobs are shifting and help the team approach automation with enthusiasm and excitement.
Automation should be designed to help speed up jobs, not replace them. Therefore, having skills of emotional intelligence cannot be replaced by AI. It is a critical skill in an increasingly AI-driven world.
Ethical and cultural considerations
AI systems can directly influence decision-making, customer experiences, setting standards, and the trust of the public. Therefore, having ethical and cultural considerations with the use of AI is important.
AI bias can occur when the algorithm produces results that are systematically prejudiced by assumptions in the machine learning process. It can have severe business implications if not addressed or rectified. These can include reputational risk or being unable to meet compliance and regulation standards. AI is not advanced enough to overcome these hurdles by itself.
We still have an ethical responsibility in the ways that we use AI, hoping to benefit the working environment and avoid any type of harm. It can have implications such as governance, long term viability, and social impact.
By having a strong team, the human touch goes a long way to combat these issues that can occur. Fostering cross-functional teams that are well-trained with automation and regularly auditing and testing AI algorithms being implemented in business strategies can prevent this from becoming a problem in supply chain management.
As AI and automation become integral to modern business strategies and supply chain management, it is clear that it is not a replacement for human intelligence.
Only the human touch can deliver empathy and leadership, a role that remains paramount in logistics leaders. Automation has proven its value by enhancing supply chain resilience, but it’s the fusion of automation and human touch that creates an adaptive and forward-thinking business.
- AI in Supply Chain