Technology Turns Again, But Customer Service Endures Into 2026
By Jay Devers
As we say hello to 2026, I’m sure you’ve noticed it too: You can hardly find a conversation about supply chain – or just about any other industry for that matter – without the focus quickly turning to the impact of AI.
It’s one of these unprecedented things that we’ve seen before, and if that sounds odd, stick with me here.
We’ve never seen a technology that comes off as powerful as AI does. People are ready to let it do everything from pricing and procurement to routing, forecasting and scheduling. I’m not sure anyone really knows what AI’s role will ultimately look like, but the anticipation about the difference it might make is off the charts right now.
But while we’ve never seen a technology that appeared to hold this kind of power, we’ve certainly seen other eruptions of enthusiasm for game-changing technologies in supply chain. The whole idea of a digital TMS was transformational in the earlier part of this century. The chatter was as hot then as it is now, and this new tech is far more disruptive.
We were sure it was going to be a game-changer, and it was. Every big breakthrough in technology is the one that will “change everything.”
But it doesn’t change everything, because none of these breakthroughs have eliminated the importance of personal customer service. Load boards haven’t. Routing optimization hasn’t. And AI won’t either.
In the areas where we focus, particularly international freight forwarding, there is and can never be a substitute for skilled, experienced operators who really know the field and truly care about the customers and their freight. As much as we hear that AI constantly learns, there’s a difference between knowing facts and understanding them on a complex level.
Bestway’s operators are mission-driven. They come to work every day with a sense of purpose, which is to clear away every hurdle and navigate through every step to make sure their clients’ freight gets where it needs to go – by whatever means necessary.
We are grateful for the ways AI can save time and reduce errors as they do this work. But only they can do the work.
Bestway has always made technology investments over the course of our history. They haven’t always paid off as we’d hoped, usually because we are a little too early in adopting. We accept that because technology changes so quickly that you can’t always predict how it will fit with your operations, your goals and your values. A handful of disappointments or small setbacks are no excuse for going back to clipboards and pencils. You simply can’t be fully vested in innovation without some level of failure.
But we mitigate the risk by never wavering from this principle: It will always be our skilled, experienced, dedicated operators who serve as the cornerstone of our efforts. They’re the only ones who can deliver the level of customer service the industry deserves from us. We’re not going to hand that responsibility over to AI or any other tech platform.
Machine learning might be a real thing on some level, but machines can’t learn to care, and they can’t take personal ownership of what matters most to a customer.
We welcome 2026, and with it the latest iteration of technology’s advance. It sounds like fun. But there’s a reason technology is always evolving, and people are always people. Because a company’s greatest asset was great from the start.
At Bestway International, we like to have fun giving you our best. Only smart, nice people can do that.
