EV Cargo Global Forwarding has launched a new mobile app which uses artificial intelligence to help clients monitor global supply chain movements.
The app is part of EV Cargo’s aim to “transform logistics into a technology industry”.
The first-generation AI Chatbot, dubbed EVie, gives complete visibility of the entire supply chain and beyond. It also identifies valuable information in conversations, interprets user goals and distils information from sentences for a high-quality nuanced language model.
EVie is available around the clock and is programmed to answer shipment queries and additional supply chain related queries such as duty rate and commodity code questions.
EVie can also be used to navigate the EV Cargo organisation requesting office locations, key contacts or account facilities.
Clyde Buntrock, EV Cargo Global Forwarding chief executive, said: “For a long time, our strategy has been to provide a technology-enabled supply chain for customers.
“Our first-generation app paves the way for a range of new digital solutions from EV Cargo and is part of our digital transformation strategy and our vision to transform logistics into a technology industry.”
“EVie is a new and powerful aid to our customer proposition. In a world where data is being heralded as the new currency, and international supply chains create huge quantities of data, how a user intuitively interacts and accesses data and turns it into meaningful information is a key competitive battleground.
“Supported by a customer team live chat function, EVie attempts to answer all customer queries, with the fall back being a real chat handler, who in turn educates Evie on any questions she is unable to answer.
He added that the app already has tens of thousands of common questions programmed into it and that, via AI customers’ queries, will expand the apps knowledge base.
Key features of the app include:
• Carrier neutral global live tracking across all shipping modes
• Key milestone status updates
• Search facilities by shipments, order or partial information
• A bookmark ‘shipments to watch’ list
• View by milestone status
• Realtime global tracking with map view by location and transit leg
• AI enabled EVie chat bot assisted information request
• Customer team live chat
• Global office locator
• iOS and Android compatible
A second phase of development is already underway which will deliver enhanced security, enabling EV Cargo to provide a higher level of visibility of shipments for customers both up and down stream.
It will also include enhanced purchase order and container management, shipping documents and financial transactions.
Online quotations, bookings and third-party schedules, such as flights and sailings, coupled with ePOD and automatic milestone notifications are also currently under development.
