In a previous blog, Erry de Boer, CEO of Eqeep, shared his vision on the impact of AI in finance. But the revolution doesn’t stop at the finance department. AI is also causing fundamental changes in operations, especially when it comes to complex planning challenges. In this blog, Erry shares his practical insights on the power of AI in operations.

Your planning needs an upgrade

Planning your people, machines, vehicles – it requires continuous attention. Even automatic rescheduling based on SLA agreements is still largely manual work at most companies. When an urgent service call comes in, your team needs to switch immediately: who has time? Who needs to be where? What deadline applies?

How AI eliminates your planning headaches

The manual planning process has two major risks: it’s time-consuming and increases the chance of errors. AI can eliminate both problems. The system rapidly combines all important data: the content of SLAs, the availability of your people, their skills and customer knowledge, AND inventory. If you’ve registered everything properly, AI tells you exactly what you should do.

Consider this scenario: an emergency repair comes in for an important customer in The Hague. Technician Henk is on his way to Amsterdam, but he has exactly the right expertise and required parts in his van for the emergency repair. The AI system immediately analyzes all options and sees that:

* Technician Henk can be in The Hague within an hour due to light traffic.

* Technician Klaas, who also has the right expertise and inventory, will complete his current job in thirty minutes.

The system adjusts the schedule: Klaas takes over Henk’s appointment in Amsterdam, where he can arrive exactly on time, and Henk drives to the emergency job in The Hague.

Communication becomes crystal clear

Planning itself is just the beginning. AI also ensures clear communication to all involved. The system automatically generates updates for customers: ‘Henk will be there in an hour’. Or it provides specific instructions to your team: ‘Call customer X with this specific message’. No more miscommunication, no more forgotten calls.

From reactive to proactive operations

As with finance, the rule applies: your data must be in order. Nothing new under the sun in that respect. Carefully register your people’s skills, your inventory levels, and your customer agreements. Then AI transforms your operations from a reactive to a proactive department. You’re no longer planning behind the facts, but anticipating what’s coming.

Start smarter planning today

Your first step? Get your data in order. Know your team, your resources, and your SLAs. Only then can AI do its work. In my previous blog about finance, we already saw: a solid data infrastructure forms the foundation for every successful AI implementation. Other departments can benefit from it as well. In a future blog, I’ll zoom in on how AI elevates your sales team to a higher level and transforms your marketing results.

Want to know more?

Have these insights got you thinking? At Eqeep, we help organizations work smarter. Contact us for a no-obligation conversation or request a demo to see how we can help you optimize your processes.

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