When it comes to deploying AI in an operational setting, a gap is starting to appear between ambition and reality. More than a quarter of leaders say that fewer than half of their AI pilots are ultimately scaled to production, and 75% of people say that leadership underestimates the difficulty that comes with scaling AI projects.
It’s possible to read this data pessimistically, but if you turn it around there’s another way to think about it: when an AI solution has proven that it works at scale, you know you’re looking at something that’s worth your investment.
In the world of logistics—and specifically within the context of the last mile—we’re starting to see which AI applications scale and which don’t. For instance, in our own experience here at DispatchTrack we’ve seen the ways that logistics operators can efficiently deploy AI for customer experience across their logistics journeys. By partnering with a solution provider that gives them control over their AI-powered capabilities and makes implementation as easy as flipping a switch, businesses like Jetson TV and Appliance and Updike Distribution Logistics have been able to save time and money on repetitive tasks like responding to where’s my order calls.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. With the tools that are readily available and easy to scale right now, AI is turning into a powerful engine of delivery visibility. Here’s why that matters and how logistics operators can get value out of it:
Delivery Visibility Is the Antidote to Uncertainty
Let’s talk about delivery visibility for a moment. If it seems like a blurry or nebulous concept, that’s usually a sign that you don’t have true visibility. Conversely, if transparency and connectivity are so baked into your logistics processes that you have immediate access to actionable intelligence across the logistics journey, then you’ve got a strong foundation of visibility.
Why is this important? Because it helps you fight off uncertainty. And uncertainty—about delivery status, driver availability, route execution, customer status, you name it—is one of the hardest logistics pitfalls to avoid.
When you don’t have insight into what’s happening across your entire delivery network, you’re stuck wasting time on the phone, relying on guesswork, and keeping your customers in the dark. This can quickly erode your margins as costs pile up at every stage of the journey.
Anything you can do to stave off uncertainty and turn confusion into clarity has the potential to strengthen your margins and improve the level of service that you offer to customers. The trick is to lay the right foundation and ensure that you’re leveraging scalable tools and processes to drive genuine real-time intelligence across your network.
That’s where AI comes in.
Creating Delivery Visibility for You and Your Customers via AI
It’s important to be clear about one specific point here: AI can’t work as a replacement for building in a strong baseline of connectivity and transparency across your network. But when you’ve achieved that (which you can learn how to do here), AI can help augment and extend those capabilities into meaningful visibility improvements at scale.
Let’s look at the customer experience side of the equation first:
You’ve successfully engaged your customers with proactive alerts and notifications, and you’re tracking orders and deliveries as they move through the first, middle, and last miles of the journey. When the customer has a question about where their order is or when it’s scheduled for, they reply to a system-generated message and get an instant response.
The AI agent responding to the customer is configured with your brand voice and tone, and it has clear escalation procedures for customer inquiries that need to be handled by a human. But for most questions, the agent gives an instant response—providing the customer with the visibility they need at the exact moment they need it. This can even include visibility into potential alternative time window options if they need to reschedule.
Not only does this offer the customer a more seamless experience, it saves your customer support team time and effort across the board. Once they’re not focusing all their attention on answering repetitive questions, they can spend their time proactively managing exceptions.
When we look at AI-powered visibility from the perspective of your internal teams, there’s even more value to be derived from scalable solutions:
- For drivers: AI voice assistants in the cab can provide visibility into customer requirements, job site details, and potential access, so that they’re prepared to get the job done quickly, efficiently, and correctly.
- For dispatchers: By analyzing past delivery performance, AI can help turn up stops that are likely to cause issues, so that dispatchers can focus their time where it will be most impactful.
- For managers: By providing the ability to query delivery data in a conversational tone, AI can make it easier not just for managers but for leaders across your organization to get fast answers to questions about on time rates, delivery cost factors, success metrics, and more.
- For customer support: Not only does a customer-facing AI agent reduce support’s workload, it can also help provide
Proven Frameworks for AI Implementation in Last Mile Logistics
Like we discussed at the top of this piece, scaling AI implementations is a stumbling block for a lot of businesses. That’s why partnering with the right technology provider—one with a history of successful AI feature deployments and a track record of actually helping customers achieve results—is the best approach.
To find a partner that will actually make life easier, instead of leaving you stuck in implementation hell, there are a few things you should look for:
- A huge cache of proprietary data: Anyone coming late to the logistics game will be stuck relying on publicly available delivery data, which is a recipe for poor AI performance. Look for someone who can leverage years and years of operational data to train their AI.
- Rapid deployment lifecycles: This technology is changing much faster than we can write about it. You need a partner who can innovate quickly and keep providing new value to their customers.
- A holistic approach to the (first, middle, and) last mile: It’s getting more and more common for AI style to cover up a fundamental lack of substance. At the end of the day, the basics of the last mile aren’t changing, and your technology partner needs to understand how to optimize and digitize the entire logistics lifecycle with and without AI.
Conclusion: Turning AI-Powered Delivery Visibility into Improved Margins
At DispatchTrack, we provide AI-powered last mile solutions that are validated by logistics. leaders: Our AI offerings are already being tested and utilized by industry giants like Ferguson, Ryder, and Ashley Furniture, and our 16+ years of domain-specific data powering machine learning that generic startups cannot replicate.
We’ve helped businesses achieve 60-70% reduction in WISMO (Where Is My Order) calls, higher capacity utilization with ETAs that drivers and customers can actually trust, reduced miles and fuel, and driver empowerment that helps inexperienced drivers perform like 10-year veterans.
All of this directly impacts margins and preserves customer satisfaction across the board—and it’s all embedded into intelligent last mile logistics workflows that are designed to ensure visibility, connectivity, and trust.
Reach out today to learn more about DispatchTrack’s solution—our team would love to provide a demo.
