Virtual supply chain assistants – An Oracle survey on the future of customer experience conducted on a sample of international senior executives, reports that virtual agents will save more than $8 billion costs per year by 2022.
Companies are now more aware of the impact of conversational AI technology on their growth and customer user experience, as well as in critical processes such as logistics and supply chain management, where knowing in real time the status of freight transport and delivery times is a crucial factor to guarantee high levels of efficiency.
To give an idea of how fast the change of approach is, data from a 2016 Supply Chain Report report that 79% of the companies interviewed did not contemplate the use of a virtual agent in operations, while during second quarter of 2017, 51% of the same sample was using a virtual agent.
More than half of the companies that were interviewed, understood that a traditional service accessible through web pages where customers have to type order numbers and shipping codes of various lengths, can be optimized thanks to real-time accessibility and natural language interaction.
By easily integrating with internal management systems, the virtual agents instantly access the data of the ERP systems and return information on the status of orders and shipments in real time and in case of delays, they notify users.
Thanks to the 24/7 service, customers can query the virtual supply chain assistants at any time, retrieving information on the status of orders and shipments: from the moment the order is placed until just before delivery.
Virtual assistants can access a series of data such as the price of raw materials, the location address of suppliers, delivery times, etc. presenting a detailed and useful picture that allows to adapt production to the trends that could impact on procurement costs.
On the customer experience side, virtual assistants support customers by instantly returning information on orders and shipments. Establishing a direct channel of communication with the end customer means creating a relationship along the entire purchasing process.
Virtual supply chain assistants use case
CRAFTER.AI ™ Logistics Brain is the conversational AI agent integrated into the ERP systems of Special-Ind, an Italian company specialized in the marketing of electronic and electromechanical components, professional electronic systems, products and special materials for manufacturing industries.
Special-Ind virtual assistant returns a navigation interface that can be queried via written messages or voice commands and allows employees and management to access the status of orders instantly, calculating time intervals and returning detailed information on each single customer.
Thanks to conversational AI, logistics and supply chain are benefiting from the possibility of collecting and analyzing data from conversations with end users, in order to plan follow up actions to improve shipping and delivery services. In logistics, as well as, in any other business area, the use of data and data driven strategies can really make a difference.
Source:
https://knowledgehubmedia.com/chatbots-transform-logistics-supply-chain-management/
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