If you own a business that has a logistics element, you know exactly how time-consuming it is to focus just on the logistics side of things.

Everything that your business is, circles around that aspect of work running smoothly – and while you can plan ahead and try your best to mitigate any fallout, small problems in the logistics side of things tend to spiral and become significant issues very quickly.

Delays in shipping, issues with inventory, increased costs, and cybersecurity breaches are all issues that need to be addressed as quickly as possible to mitigate the fallout.

Here’s how AI-driven solutions can help you mitigate the issues that crop up with logistics and warehousing.

What can AI-driven solutions handle for warehousing and logistics?

AI-driven solutions are a great way to ensure that your warehousing and logistics runs as smoothly as possible, without the significant delays that can occur as part of logistics operations.

Here’s what AI-driven solutions can help with in warehousing and logistics:

• Real-time insight into the stock and products that you have available; as a result, inventory is always up-to-date and errors in logistics are less likely to occur.
• Tracking shipments for continuous updates on deliveries.
• The opportunity to manage your supply chain remotely.
• A unified platform where all data is collected, thereby allowing for easier and more accurate reporting and predictions.

What are the benefits of AI-driven solutions for logistics and warehousing?

1. Boosting supply chain efficiency — if the rest of your infrastructure has been boosted through AI-driven solutions, then the reality is that your operation will run without issue. Shorter delivery times means that customers will receive their goods faster, which builds a better reputation for your company.
2. Monitoring inventory and supply — AI-driven solutions can create a system where your inventory is updated in real time, allowing you to constantly monitor what you have available and what you need to stock up on. We’ve gone over this a little in our guide to IT services for retail, but it bears repeating: the worst part of warehousing is realising that you’re out of stock on a popular product, and have to wait to fulfil the order.
   
3. Better clarity for consumers — as a direct result of upgrading your infrastructure, your customers can benefit from a much clearer idea of when they’re likely to receive their shipments, which significantly boosts trust in your business.
   
4. Immediate response to downtime — any problems within the warehouse can take hours for discovery, which then increases the delay towards fulfilment. Using AI-driven solutions, you can ensure that there is a monitoring system in place to inform you of any issues, thus allowing you to pivot to finding a solution quickly.
   
5. Enhanced cybersecurity — the entire warehouse and logistics industry relies on building trust with the consumer, and a big part of that trust is ensuring that their data is protected. Implementing AI-driven solutions can allow you to boost your cybersecurity measures, thereby protecting sensitive client data from outside threats.

Do I need AI-driven solutions as a small logistics provider?

Logistics is a field where the constant fluctuation of information can greatly benefit from AI-driven solutions, however it is understandable that smaller logistics providers might consider investing in AI a cut in their profits. However, the benefits that AI can provide for a logistics company are particularly valuable, as they can allow you to scale your business at a much more efficient rate.

Businesses that invest in AI-driven solutions for logistics and warehousing benefit from the clarity that those solutions provide. Besides monitoring your operations so you can immediately respond to any issues, you can also start preemptively monitoring the products that sell fastest, and make your own predictions on what’s best to order as a result of that.

AI-driven solutions for logistics, regardless of size, will provide you with more information on your customers, which can then allow you to scale your company according to what’s best for you, and base it in real-time data. While smaller logistics companies don’t need to worry about accurate monitoring, it serves them better to have the infrastructure in place before they become too big, as it allows you to build a stronger company from the outset.

Is investing in AI-driven solutions for logistics and warehousing expensive?

No, it doesn’t have to be prohibitively expensive, especially if you’re a small logistics company just looking for greater clarity on your operation. You can simply outsource the management of your AI to a company that has experience managing the set-up, implementation, and monitoring of AI-driven solutions.

The good thing outsourcing is that it will be much cheaper than hiring and keeping an in-house IT team. By outsourcing your IT needs to an external company, you can offload the cost of keeping an in-house IT team while also retaining all the benefits of having that team at hand.

It should also be noted that monitoring your logistics and warehousing operation will more than pay for itself in the long-run, as it will let you grow in a way that’s good for your company, mitigate cybersecurity risks, and make sure that you always have the right product in stock at the right time.

There is a solution out there for every company, and if you’re struggling to find one for yours, reach out: we’re happy to help guide you along the right direction.