The Transformative Power of AI in Employee Productivity

Artificial Intelligence (AI) use in businesses has been creating momentum in the past few years. Companies are using AI to increase productivity, reduce expenses and save time. A survey by Forbes Advisor found that 56% of companies in the U.S. are using Artificial Intelligence for customer support, while 51% of organizations use it for cybersecurity and fraud control.

One of the most common misconceptions about AI is that it will automate jobs. However, according to research carried out by Stanford and MIT universities, artificial intelligence tools can boost employee productivity by 14%. Lindsey Raymond, an MIT Ph.D. candidate and co-author of the study, says that less experienced workers benefit more from AI and might help slow-skill professionals be 35% faster in their jobs.

During FreightWaves Future of Supply Chain event, Ryan Mann, Marketing Director at Lean Solutions Group, had the chance to talk with Anthony Smith and Thomas Wasson on Freightwaves Now TV about how the transformative power of AI technology is shaping employee productivity and how Lean Solutions Group is using it to improve training times.

Watch the full interview!

How does AI factor in what Lean Solutions Group does?

We are looking at AI, you know, every single day, for ways to implement it. Obviously one of the scary things about AI that people talk about is “Is this going to automate our jobs away?” Right, is it going to take all you know over all of our work? Honestly, our philosophy is that AI is a tool that every person should be literate in. So, for us, when we’re looking at AI, we’re looking at how we can improve employee performance and productivity, how we can make them more efficient.  

So, we’ve implemented new tools over the last 12 months like our partnership with Symtrain which is AI simulated role play training to reduce our training times by 40%, so taking a five-week training outline and turning it into a three-week outline which also increases their speed to green so they get more reps in through the Sims, it’s a great tool.

And then we also have a new partnership in Latin America with a company called Let’z where we are essentially trying to eliminate the language barrier in working with global remote workforces like ours where our developers can now go in and train with AI on the job-related jargon that they’re going to encounter on a daily basis working with U.S teams.

How are the staff members responding to the change from a five to a three-week training period?

When we do surveys after the training, when we compare cohorts, confidence levels are higher, people’s satisfaction with the training is higher and they are ready to get on the phone and navigate through software in real-time.  

By the way, I’ve done one of those sims before and it is every bit as intense as a real call, I would imagine at least. Being on the phone. Having to navigate that software, ask questions, deal with an angry customer. A carrier that’s at a drop off but he’s got the wrong Rate Con number. All those problems can be addressed in a simulated environment before they get on the real call.  

What are going to be some of the biggest optimizers that you’re looking at AI’s real influence within the space?

So, within the space we can look at track and trace as a good example. Track and trace is a big position that we staff for, we’re looking to automate that roll out because as we know, it can’t be completely automated. This is a people sport, the whole industry is based on people, it will continue to be based on people, but what we can do is increase efficiency.

Using different tools like our partner TextLocate which automates some track and trace functions, we’re able to take somebody who can check on 30 loads a day to 60 loads a day. Because it automates that first touch and then they can work on the problems that they’re actually having instead of having to like to hit these numbers continuously over and over again. They can focus on problem solving instead.  

Do you think transportation AI is possible or chat assistant for a driver are some things we will be seeing on the horizon soon?

I think that’s inevitable. There are thousands of AI tools being released almost every single day now. Our CTO, Alfonso Quijano, is always combing through new AI tools to see what’s coming and what might be around the corner. But like I said: I think the best tools in AI, at least for the next five years, are going to be tools that make us better at what we do.  

Are there any pitfalls around AI?

I think so. I went to a conference that was all about AI last August, and there was a saying that kept being repeated over and over again, and it was “garbage in, garbage out.” So, it all starts with, you know, the data set, the data structure, how it’s managed and then of course you move on to data science. So, I think there are tools that are ultimately going to start off promising but ultimately if they’re not connected to great data and great data structures and sets and management it’s ultimately useless.

When do you know if you need to make it (AI tools) yourself or find someone who can?

It’s the age-old question: build or buy? So, in some cases, we are building our own tools. We’ve built our own operating portal for our entire organization. We’re calling it “Power Queue” because it’s removing data silos and digitizing processes, and so from that, we’re going to be able to create some AI algorithms, some machine learning algorithms, and implement them that way.  

But we’re always looking to build because we’re a tech- enabled company. We have a big Tech division with over a thousand developers in Latin America. But we like to look at partnerships as well, so I’ve mentioned a few: Symtrain, TextLocate, and we’ll continue to look at partnerships that make sense for us to help us continue to boost productivity and performance at lower cost for our customers.

What kind of KPIs or benchmarks are you using to measure progress in specific points of the company?

It depends on the business, but we partner with obviously all of our clients and we have our Quality Assurance Department. It has over 40 people, just focused on the metrics, focused on the KPIs, setting up what should be measured, what shouldn’t be measured and then telling the story.  

We interviewed a Quality Assurance professional recently for a short docuseries that we’ve been shooting this year with our people in Colombia and what she said is that “numbers are just numbers until I tell the story”. She really looks at it as being a storyteller and not just, you know, well “this person is performing badly”. Well, they might be missing the mark because there’s other operational issues like: do you have the right processes in place? Do you have the right Tech to fill the gaps? So, these are questions that we can answer with our customers who allow us to go in and do this Workforce Analytics.

Do you feel like Latin America is having its moment in terms of opportunities and structure to develop employees able to work in Lean Solutions Group?

I think Latin America is rich in talent. A lot of the countries that we’re in, specifically the reason we’re there is, because those countries have been investing in education for many years now and so we’re seeing the benefit of that come through and the talent that we get to hire and place with our customers.

I think Latin America is definitely having its moment. I think people are getting more and more comfortable with the idea of nearshoring and one of the things that’s really great is: some of those old stereotypes about Latin American countries, whether there’s the safety issues, etc., some of those things are starting to kind of melt away and people are starting to see that this is a place that’s ripe for opportunity.  ‍

When you look at the future within AI and supply chain, what are some of the things that you are most excited about?

Well, for me as a marketer, I’m pretty excited about a pilot program that we got invited to, with one of our Tech vendors, for analytics where it’s in chat GPT. Like a system where I can just tell them “I’m looking to see what the deal velocity was from, you know, lead to deal close” and it’s like “Okay, well how long did that take” and it’ll just pull up all the information for me, and I don’t have to build any more reports. That would be excellent. So that’s probably the thing that excites me the most about AI, is just making people who are not data scientists, a little bit, have access to information and intelligence that we just, we don’t have the time to get those skills.

Will the use of AI and Chat GPT open new doors for non-functional people?

Yes, I think so. For me, I think the biggest thing going forward is going to be AI literacy. Like, I said, just like financial literacy is a skill set, some people have it, and they do great with money management, and other people don’t, and they struggle right there, they’re living the paycheck-to-paycheck life. I think it’ll be the same with AI tools. You’ll need to become literate. Chat GPT doesn’t work as well for everybody because some people know how to get the information out of it and some people don’t.

At Lean Solutions Group, we count on a well-structured Tech Department and are more than excited to find new technology to implement so we can offer the highest quality service we can to our customers. We are truly grateful to have had the opportunity to talk more about how we’ve welcomed the AI world into our operations and are looking forward to continuing to explore more of the advantages it has to offer to the logistics and transportation industry.