Layla Shaikley is co-founder at Wise Systems, a leading AI-driven routing and dispatching platform provider.
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Picture this: A group of girls in Miami waits for a particular beverage driver to show up at the convenience store outside their high school on weekdays at 3 p.m. The driver, Mike, stopped delivering to that convenience store at 3 p.m.
Hang with me, and you’ll see why this matters.
Every now and then, I get invited to share my experience as a startup founder in the supply chain space. The topics of the conference give a good indicator of where the economy is and what business leaders want to hear. Last week’s topic: Do more with less.
In the last few years, the workforce has experienced a dizzying set of twists and turns, from the Great Resignation to quiet-quitting to today’s flavor of rightsizing. Between volatile public markets, depressed venture cycles and insecurity about the future, it’s become evident that we’re in an era of doing more with less.
People generally look to technology for answers when it comes to doing more with less. Buzzwords like artificial intelligence may be the obvious answer, right? Not necessarily. I regret to inform you that artificial intelligence isn’t an industry, and it isn’t a product. As such, it’s not really a complete answer to a problem.
Artificial intelligence is merely an enabler of information. In many companies, people are usually the keepers of information. Particularly, tenured humans are keepers of their own information.
Is the issue really about doing more with less or doing better with what you have? You can’t optimize your business if your organization doesn’t enable the right information to flow to the right people. Without information, it will be challenging to use AI as a force multiplier.
In this “do more with less” era, employers (particularly growth-stage employers, which is my sweet spot) have an opportunity to transition from developing mostly firefighters to developing a healthy mix of firefighters and architects.
Every organization needs firefighters. A firefighter responds to any problem with a swift solution despite the lack of documentation, consistency and resources. However, an architect builds an experience. For an architect to be effective, there has to be an acute problem that can be proactively solved with information rather than reaction.
I come from a place of experience, as the organizations (trucking companies) we serve at our enterprise software company employ a workforce with turnover that’s larger than life—95%, to be precise.
There’s a driver shortage that’s not to be mistaken as simply a shortage in the number of drivers. The number of licensed drivers in the U.S., with or without a CDL, far outnumbers the volume of delivery vehicles. What this indicates is that there’s a shortage of desire. For various reasons, it’s extremely hard to retain drivers.
When a driver leaves, how much of their tribal knowledge makes it to the next person?
For the next person who fills the role of a veteran who walks away from the job, a typical day begins with a roster of anything from 10 to 150 deliveries to make. Automotus.co estimates that four minutes of every task a driver is asked to do is spent on parking. Once that’s figured out, they must determine the best route to take.
When a task is delayed, the driver must also figure out what the consequences are, such as not making the delivery on time to the convenience store outside of that Miami high school. In some cases, it means forfeiting an enjoyable 12-to-1 lunch hour at Buffalo Wild Wings.
Fortunately, the industry remains hopeful. Statistically speaking, 88% of consumers desire same-day delivery for the items they order online. According to the National Retail Federation, 80% of high-level marketing and business executives see this as an opportunity to raise profits and cut costs.
While the business intelligence data and logistics optimization AI brings will certainly play a role in making this dream a reality, the key will be having the right information and strategies, which only experienced drivers can devise.
Like many problems, these are issues AI can better help people solve. Still, no matter what the future of technology holds, business leaders must understand how products solve their needs to determine whether they’re maximizing what their workforce knows.
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