Empowering Freight Forwarders with AI

Solvo.ai developed this series of articles to look into three key areas where Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionising the freight forwarding industry. We will explore how AI is driving operational efficiencies, enhancing customer retention, and ultimately improving margins. Each article will provide in-depth insights and real-world examples from our esteemed industry leaders, painting a comprehensive picture of the transformative power of AI in freight forwarding.

Part 2: Path to Higher Customer Retention

AI-powered predictive analytics and decision support systems are revolutionising how freight forwarders serve their customers. In today’s volatile market, anticipating customer needs is essential, and top forwarders are leveraging AI to analyse patterns, forecast behaviours, and deliver proactive solutions that boost customer retention.

To explore this optimistic perspective, we interviewed two freight forwarding veterans, each bringing unique insights and extensive experience. Despite the diversity of our backgrounds, we all hit on major areas regarding how AI will empower freight forwarders going forward. Below, you’ll find perspectives from: 

• Sune Stilling, ex-Founder and Managing Partner at Maersk Growth now building the first supply chain and logistics focused venture fund in Europe, Nine Realms.
• Vivek Vanwari, ex-VP at Kuehne+Nagel now helping freight forwarders scale their sales operations through Founder & Thought Partner, Sales Therapy LLC.

This conversation is far from over. In fact it’s just the beginning. Reach out to let us to know how you see AI impacting freight forwarding—and where you think this exciting and dynamic field is headed - Gaurav Bajaj, CEO, Solvo.ai  

Powering Predictive Customer Service

Driving higher operational efficiencies is one key aspect of AI. But, experts agree, it’s all in service of ensuring you can understand, serve and retain customers better. Sune Stilling sees predictive analytics and AI-driven decision support as being central to this aim.

“With market volatility becoming the norm, the ability to wargame, to create contingencies and to safeguard against market disruptions is a critical capability that the freight industry needs to serve its customers better” Sune says. “A shipper might flag a delay or concern they have with a shipment, the consequence of which you might not be able to model as an operator”, Sune says.

“The right tech can flag these exceptions well before a shipper can, process scenarios and provide decision support to account teams,” he says. The decision support is also finding applications in determining how you should contract with your customers: do you go spot? do you go long term contracts? In other words, leveraging AI for early detection and proactive action strengthens the relationship and delivers previously unseen value.

Turning Time Savings into Customer Growth

‍Vivek Vanwari strongly agrees, noting that AI can improve the quality and quantity of customer interactions. “In forwarding, the relationship is so important. The comfort level, the trust that different layers of the organization that you need to build with the client is super critical”, Vivek says.

For Vivek, serving shippers faster and better can have a profound effect on retention. “If I'm at any level in sales, a sales leader or senior manager, the amount of time that gets lost in trying to find information during a contract period, for example, is huge. The moment you cut this down from 10 hours to ten minutes, your number of sales, your quantity and quality of outreach to customers is going to dramatically improve. That is a huge win”, says Vivek. As an example, this can be achieved by using automated quoting engines or even Solvo.ai’s own door-to-door pricing optimisation engine that has the potential to free up to 25% of day’s work. More time away from quoting equals more customers served.

In Conclusion...

AI drives customer retention in the freight forwarding industry by enabling forwarders to be more responsive and proactive in addressing customer needs. Predictive analytics and AI-driven decision support tools allow for early detection of issues and improved customer interactions, ultimately strengthening relationships and fostering loyalty. Join us for the final part of our series, where we will discuss how AI helps in improving margins in the freight forwarding business.

If you're ready to enhance your customer retention strategies with AI, reach out to Solvo.ai today and let's discuss how we can support your business.

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