Beyond Dashboards: Digital Transformation in Air Cargo
Radhesh Menon highlights a crucial insight: digital transformation in air cargo must focus on people, not just dashboards and KPIs. Traditionally, the airfreight industry has depended on rigid legacy systems featuring green screens, menu-driven commands, and workflows requiring precision but lacking intuition.
Shifting from Legacy Systems to AI-Driven Interactions
Artificial intelligence is changing this by replacing static interfaces with dynamic, conversation-driven processes. These new systems feel more like collaborating with a colleague than completing endless forms, demonstrating a shift that is both technological and cultural. This transformation reshapes how airlines and cargo operators:
- Engage with their systems
- Forecast demand
- Price capacity
- Balance automation and human expertise
“We already see a move from click-heavy, menu-driven screens to agentic AI — digital assistants that understand natural language and execute workflows end to end,” says Radhesh Menon, Head of Cargo and Logistics.
The Future of User Interfaces in Air Cargo
Operators will soon be able to interact with systems using natural language commands instead of navigating multiple forms. Menon explains how this might work:
“Agents might simply say, ‘Book three tonnes of electronics from Singapore to Frankfurt for Friday night and hold a waitlist on earlier legs.’ The AI would orchestrate the steps, validate data, and return a confirmed plan.”
This marks the next phase in user interface evolution — from green screens to graphical interfaces, now advancing to conversational, task-oriented agents. It represents a return to a more intuitive way of interaction, but vastly improved in usability.
Author’s Summary
Digital transformation in air cargo is evolving from complex dashboards to intuitive AI assistants that simplify tasks by understanding natural language and blending automation with human insight.