Chatgpt showed the state of a.i. but how can A.I. help logistics companies that don't have a dev team?
Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) offers advantages in automating documentation processes in logistics and supply chains. However, its usage in this field remains low due to the high cost of implementation. According to McKinsey, only 21% of companies have adopted A.I. solutions. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggle to invest in costly A.I. technology, limiting their ability to compete.
This article explores the benefits and challenges of A.I. adoption in logistics and supply chain, and how new affordable solutions are helping smaller companies.
What's changed
No code appeared out of nowhere and gave every single individual a stack to work as a large company. No-code solutions are emerging as a game-changer in the logistics and supply chain industry, particularly for smaller companies. These solutions offer a cost-effective way to automate documentation processes without requiring extensive knowledge of programming languages.
Using tools like monday.com or Asana or ClickUp with a combination of Zapier or Make, small teams can run their operations 10x faster without any impact on the headcount. No-code and low-code tools have numerous benefits, such as reducing the need for IT expertise, speeding up development time, and increasing agility in responding to changing business requirements. According to a report by Gartner, by 2024, low-code application development will be responsible for more than 65% of application development activity.
A.I. for non-technical users
And this is what we built Bitskout for - a tool that allows you to automate extracting data from documents and emails (and more) without any dev team. The platform requires minimal training and can be easily integrated into existing workflows. Bitskout also offers a large library of customizable templates that cover a range of logistics and supply chain documentation needs, such as purchase orders, invoices, and bills of lading.
Bitskout A.I. also provides integrations with popular no-code tools like Zapier and Microsoft Power Automate, making it easier for companies to automate their document workflows without requiring extensive coding knowledge. These integrations enable companies to create custom workflows and automate repetitive tasks, improving efficiency and reducing errors.
Use Case 1 - Recognize Document type
There is definitely a lot of paperwork in the supply chain. And one of the biggest time drains is going through an email and opening a document to check what it is. It can take 5-10 minutes to do so - and that's definitely not fun. Wouldn't it be great if the automation would recognize each document and update my tool?
Well, it turns out you can do that by using a ready-made Bitskout template that can automatically recognize supply chain documents:
Use Case 2 - Automatically Extract data from documents
All right. So now you know the document type. The next step is to automatically extract data from it. You can do this manually of course, but as we want to beat the competition and you read the article about document automation, we will automate it.
Same thing here with extracting data from Bill of Lading - there is a template for that!
Use Case 3 - Setup own data extraction from emails or documents
Of course, not all the documents are covered. There are many internal documents that you have like delivery notes or other reports that you have. You might even want to get data from email notifications to your tools as well.
Bitskout allows you to create your own plugins. Simply, load an example and choose what fields you need.
Use Case 4 - Compare Documents
In the logistics and supply chain industry, accurate documentation is critical to ensure the smooth functioning of the supply chain. Document comparison is an essential process to avoid mistakes and ensure consistency across documents.
One of the best examples is comparing labels - customs are very strict on the labels and even tiny errors like a missing dot or "g” instead of “gr” can lead to delays.
Luckily, Bitskout has off-the-shelf comparison functionality:
You can compare labels, and contracts, including files with multiple pages.
Use Case 5 - Build Standard Operating Procedures
Now what happened here is that by taking all use cases from above you are building a standard operating procedure that is based on automations. Automations coupled with a process established a very clear procedure in your company. Thus, teams just load the docs and automations takes the rest. Thus instead of looking at the emails and doing "search and rescue” work, you can finally focus on growth.
All those automations serve one goal - create a streamlined process that will allow you to eliminate manual steps that can lead to mistakes and delays.
Conclusion
In summary, the automations are your friends. No-code tools are easy to use and easy to cancel. A.I. is here to stay and with tools like Bitskout, you don't need a tech squad to solve your automation issues in extracting data from documents.
Even if you take rough estimates from above, the savings can be up to half an hour per shipment. That's a lot. And not counting all the context switching and general hatred of your employees for such meaningless tasks.
There is only one step left - start a free trial and try it in a few clicks.
Shall we?