Automated Quoting
Assembly Line
McLeod Software Introduces AI-Powered Order Creation Interface for LoadMaster and PowerBroker TMS
McLeod Software (McLeod), the leading transportation management system (TMS) for freight brokers and carriers, announced the launch of its new AI-powered Order Creation interface. This innovative integration allows McLeod customers to convert unstructured email data and attachments into order entries within the LoadMaster and PowerBroker TMS platforms, effectively streamlining operations through AI automation.
McLeod Software’s platforms already support integrations with several leading AI Order Creation providers, including Vooma, Everest AI, and Drumkit with additional partners expected soon. To ensure smooth and efficient onboarding for AI partners, McLeod Software requires AI providers in this space to become McLeod Certified.
Using generative AI, C.H. Robinson has achieved automation across the entire lifecycle of a freight shipment
This new proprietary tech incorporates generative artificial intelligence to overcome the decades-old challenge of automating transactions that shippers still commonly choose to do by email. Shippers directly integrated with C.H. Robinson’s platform have for years been able to get automated service instantly. But the same request sent by email had to wait for a person. Now, more than 10,000 of those routine transactions per day have been automated. Shippers who use email can get the same speed-to-market and cost savings as other customers, and the C.H. Robinson teams that serve them can spend more time on more valuable work.
C.H. Robinson’s new automation tech is being used for:
- Emailed price requests: This has grown to 2,600 quotes delivered a day, and at 32 seconds is now even faster. Having started with truckload quotes, the tech has also been expanded to handle LTL quotes.
- Emailed load tenders: The tech is turning emails into 5,500 shipment orders a day, achieved in 90 seconds.
- Emailed appointments: When a customer uses email rather than C.H. Robinson’s touchless appointments, the tech extracts the details needed to lock in a pick-up or delivery time. So far, this is done 3,000 times a day across more than 26,000 locations within 60 seconds.
- In-transit visibility: For instances when a carrier’s automated status updates aren’t working, C.H. Robinson is piloting the use of generative AI to interact with the carrier, rather than taking up staff time to send an email, text or instant message.
New C.H. Robinson Technology Breaks a Decades-Old Barrier to Automation in the Logistics Industry
In another industry-leading innovation, C.H. Robinson has automated transactions that many shippers still conduct by email. It breaks a long-standing barrier to automation and gives shippers who use email the same speed-to market and cost savings as shippers who are more digitally connected.
Using artificial intelligence, C.H. Robinson’s new technology classifies incoming email, reads it and replicates the steps a person would take to fulfill a customer’s request. For example, shippers often still choose to send an email asking for a price quote rather than log into a digital platform. On an average business day, the global logistics company receives over 11,000 emails from customers and carriers requesting pricing on truckload freight. While the technology is replying to 2,000 customer quote requests a day, it opens the door to automating other transactions shippers and carriers choose to do by email. The large language model (LLM) the technology uses can be trained to identify an email about a load tender, a pickup appointment or a shipment tracking update.
“Our customers can get instant price quotes through our Navisphere platform or any of the 35 largest TMS or ERP systems we’re integrated with. But for someone like a busy warehouse manager with unexpected spot freight or freight in a new lane, an email can just feel easier. Email works the same for everybody. It doesn’t ask for your password. There are no fields to fill in,” said Mark Albrecht, Vice President for Artificial Intelligence. “Before generative AI, replying to that email request defied automation. Customers had to wait for a human just to pass along a quote from our Dynamic Pricing Engine. Now, our new technology reads the email and supplies the quote in an average 2 minutes 13 seconds. C.H. Robinson is doing this at scale, leaving our people more time to help those same customers with more complex requests.”