Evri invests £1m in artificial intelligence strategy

UK parcel delivery company Evri has announced it will invest £1m (US$1.2m) in its artificial intelligence (AI) strategy to transform its operations.

The AI strategy covers three main areas – improving customer service, enhancing parcel security and optimizing workforce planning. The company is working collaboratively with AI consultancy Robiquity and has created a ‘AI Centre of Excellence’ team to ensure it has the right people at the heart of its transformational work in AI.

According to Evri, the strategy is already delivering tangible benefits; initial implementations have resulted in improved outputs and optimized operations, demonstrating the transformative power of AI.

Marcus Hunter, chief technology officer at Evri, explained, “Our significant investment in AI underscores Evri’s commitment to continuous improvement and innovation. This strategy will empower our people and optimize 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.”

Customer service

The investment in AI will improve customer service as the technology will simplify, speed up and improve the consistency of Evri’s parcel delivery services by automating simple data collection and identification of issues. This will in turn free up Evri’s customer service team to focus on resolving more complex issues, leading to faster resolutions and a consistently higher quality of service.

Parcel security

The use of AI will also enhance parcel security through the implementation of AI-powered tools. Using AI, Evri will be able to more quickly identify, on the doorstep, if a parcel is being left in a highly safe place as the tech will analyze data against previous delivery photos. The enhancements will also analyze 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 couriers take, in real time, to ensure the quality of delivery photos.

Workforce planning

Evri will use AI to optimize workforce planning by analyzing 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.

Evri also aims to use augmented reality headsets in the future to significantly reduce the time it takes to bring in and train new couriers. As the situations couriers deal with on the doorstep can vary greatly, Evri will explore the use of headsets for couriers to experience real-life scenarios and how best to deal with them to achieve customer satisfaction.

“We’re committed to supporting colleagues and helping them work smarter,” Hunter added. “AI will remove some of the mundane tasks, freeing them to focus on higher-value activities. Our AI strategy proves we’re committed to deploying cutting-edge tech and we’re quick to market. Moreover, the chosen AI technology has been evolving for 15 years, providing a proven track record that gives Evri confidence in its investment. Evri is a disruptor in the logistics industry known for its ability to deliver parcels quickly, efficiently and often at a lower cost than competitors.”

You can read an exclusive interview with Marcus Hunter in the June 2024 issue of Parcel and Postal Technology International – coming soon! Click here to subscribe for free and get your issue.