Parcel delivery company Evri is to invest £1 million into its artificial intelligence strategy to enhance its customer service and delivery network.
Working in collaboration with AI consultancy Robiquity, it has created an ‘AI Centre of Excellence’ team.
Evri will look to develop AI to simplify, speed up and improve the consistency of its parcel delivery services by automating simple data collection and identification of issues.
This will in turn free up its customer service team to focus on resolving more complex issues, it says, leading to faster resolutions and a consistently higher quality of service.
It will also enhance parcel security, using AI to more quickly identify, on the doorstep, if a parcel is being left in a highly safe place – as the tech will analyse data against previous delivery photos.
The enhancements will also analyse claims data, and automatically check geo-location and delivery photos to identify potentially false claims. This builds on Evri’s existing ParcelVision technology, which checks every photo taken by couriers, in real time, to ensure the quality of delivery photos.
Finally, Evri will use AI to optimise workforce planning by analysing data and predicting future demands. This will ensure Evri will have the right people in the right place at the right time, improving efficiency and delivery success rates.
In the future Evri will also explore and test the use of augmented reality headsets for couriers.
“Our significant investment in AI underscores Evri’s commitment to continuous improvement and innovation,” said Marcus Hunter, chief technology officer at Evri.
“This strategy will empower our people and optimise our operations, ultimately enabling us to deliver a best-in-class experience for everyone we serve. It demonstrates that Evri is a tech-forward business and a really exciting place for new talent to work – we want to be the number one parcel delivery company globally.
“We put a real focus on intelligent automation in the middle of 2023, and we have been supported by Robiquity for the start of this exciting journey. The team at Robiquity have been crucial in building the foundations – allowing us to move at pace with implementing the early stages of our strategy.
“The significant benefits achieved through Intelligent Process Automation in the first six months have given us the platform to explore other AI, with a view to implementing later technologies to help shape the future of our business.”
James Procter, chief operating officer at Robiquity, said: “We are delighted with the opportunity to support such a forward-thinking and ambitious business as Evri. They have an unwavering vision that AI can transform how they operate, and ultimately provide huge benefit to their customers.
“We are already seeing massive benefits delivered in the first six months, with much more to come. This is testament to the partnership approach adopted between us. We are looking forward to supporting Evri on their applied AI roadmap and celebrating further successes along the way.”