Why AI's Greatest Value Is Empowering The Essential Worker
Kerrie Jordan is Chief Marketing Officer & SVP Product at Epicor. Host of the Manufacturing the Future podcast.
There’s little doubt that AI technology creates transformation, but maybe not in the way that business leaders imagine. Many companies adopt AI as a way to see into the future, hoping the vast amounts of predictive analytics will reveal where their businesses should go next quarter or next year.
Yet there’s an overlooked AI use that can create real transformation in real time: pivoting from implementing AI as a forecasting tool to putting AI in the hands of your frontline workers. AI’s greatest value might just be in how it changes the way workers feel as they go about their day: empowered and engaged in the work they do, confident that they’re making the right decisions and secure in their understanding of what’s expected of them and how to achieve success.
In our recent report, 1,038 frontline workers across global industries told us that AI isn’t just a predictive tool, but now shapes how they do their jobs. Over half of frontline workers now use AI in their day-to-day work. Of those who use AI every day, 73% say they have already seen it lead to cost reductions, while 87% say their company plans to increase AI use in the future. Additionally, frontline workers believe that the most important benefit their organization will get from AI and automation will be increased workforce productivity.
Although AI can certainly help with predictive analytics and forecasting in the boardroom, its greatest value may be in getting your frontline workers to feel confident and accomplished. Traditionally, only the most experienced workers had those gut feelings that guided supply chain management, but now AI provides a sense of mastery to anyone in the following ways:
• AI increases immediate understanding. When your frontline workers can’t see the full picture to understand why something is going wrong (like why a shipment is delayed, why inventory counts are off or why a station is slowing down), they can feel frustrated and powerless to respond. AI tools can remedy that by providing situational context based on data gathered from across the supply chain network.
• AI facilitates guided judgment and smart decision making. Frontline workers don’t need to see forecasts into the future; they want to understand and address the problems unfolding around them in real time. AI can streamline this process by prioritizing challenges by severity and impact, then making recommendations for the next best actions. As a result, your workers will have a clear understanding of what they should do and why they are doing it.
• AI builds confidence and productivity. We all work more safely, accurately and quickly when we feel confident in what we’re doing. AI can eliminate ambiguity by surfacing issues before they become problems and providing guardrails for complex decisions. In fact, a recent study found that about three-quarters of respondents say AI is increasing productivity and enhancing the quality of their work.
• AI provides a shortcut to mastery. No longer does effective operational management belong only to those who can intuitively sense disruptions or spot subtle changes. Today, AI helps democratize expertise and fast-track even newcomers toward a full understanding of complex processes. Three out of four AI users in one report said it “enables them to perform tasks previously out of reach.” With that knowledge literally in their hands in the form of an AI-powered mobile dashboard, all workers now have the agency to make informed, insight-driven decisions across the supply chain.
Ninety percent of CEOs say that by 2026, they will incorporate AI assistants and automation into their supply chain management workflows; however, many business leaders don’t necessarily consider use cases for AI outside of forecasting and predictive analytics. Here are some steps you can take to turn that around, empowering your frontline workers with AI so they feel confident and focused each day.
Give workers AI tools that show a clear picture of daily productivity, based on data pulled from across the organization and supply networks. Embed a simple dashboard of basic information directly into mobile scanners, production tablets and warehouse displays that includes what is happening right now, why it’s happening, who or what is affected, what needs attention first and what action to take next.
Instead of serving up no-context updates to workers and leaving them to figure out the analysis and decision making on the spot, have AI analyze these alerts, compare them against a contingency planning matrix and historical data and then present workers with three issues that matter most at the moment, one action that reduces the most downstream risk and the next step they could take in real time. This simple step turns chaos and overwhelm into focused clarity and action.
Nothing stands in the way of confidence and productivity more than tools that are hard to use. To increase adoption and regular use, provide AI tools that are intuitive and that mimic the same interfaces workers use in their personal smart technology. Use conversational AI so that instead of sifting through systems or searching for answers, employees can receive immediate guidance on next steps, increasing their sense of mastery and agency.
Frontline workers can often feel overwhelmed by time-consuming, energy-draining tasks like data entry, status updates, scheduling and scanning. Automating these tedious, repetitive processes opens up time for workers to focus on more high-value responsibilities like decision making and oversight. This critical step boosts confidence and morale while streamlining operations and reducing errors at the same time.
Forecasting helps business leaders think about the future, but frontline workers have to manage in-the-moment situations that ensure efficient supply chains and lead to satisfied customers. With AI-powered tools, workers get the information, insights and context needed to feel more empowered and confident as each new situation arises.
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