By Greg Syfan
AI, automated driving, and other amazing advances in technology are all over the news these days. For me, it doesn’t seem that long ago when we adopted computers for the first time and typed our first email messages.
Lately, it feels like technology is snowballing with positive developments seemingly happening every day to help us work smarter, faster, and more efficiently. In fact, we have one IT staff member dedicated to exploring and testing any new technologies that can help our team members,
Here at Syfan Logistics, we have always sought to partner with companies that recognize transformative changes in the industry to help us build technology solutions.
Our own Syfan IT team is currently building a Rate Engine to train and update the digital “bots” that we are already using to turn around load bids much faster and more accurately. This helps our company secure more business while providing our customers with more competitive rates – a win-win for everyone.
Recent examples of other commitments include the adoption of several business process automation (BPA) tools that simplify some of our most basic work routines. The cool thing is that our team members don’t all need to be programmers to implement this technology. They are called ‘no code’ or ‘low code’ solutions – and they are changing how non-technical team members do day-to-day tasks.
And there is so much more. To further fine-tune our load-bid processes, we have signed a deal with a supply-chain management company that provides real-time data on shipper rates – from charges for specific lanes all the way down to accessorial charges – for thousands of loads across all lanes in the United States. We feed this fresh information to our bots (Is all this sounding like a science fiction movie?) to help us get even faster and more accurate in our bidding.
We’re even using these hard-working bots to make appointments for pick-ups and deliveries. The potential for other applications is limitless.
You may fear technology is taking away jobs, but we’re looking to use technology to enhance our team members’ experiences, freeing them up to perform more meaningful duties.
We’ll Never Stand Still
While we still have a way to go, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that our loads were up by more than 30 percent in the first quarter of this year – while business across our industry was down for the same period.
Far from distancing relationships, our adoption of new technologies at Syfan Logistics is strengthening our communications and partnerships with customers and carriers.
I can’t tell you where technology will take us in the next five years, or even over the next month. But I can confidently say that we’ll continue to explore and test new frontiers, never standing still.