Tony Wayda, engagement principal with JBF Consulting, talks about the challenges of workforce change management, and ensuring that your business has buy-in when implementing new technology.

Companies rolling out new transportation technology are often missing a critical piece of the puzzle: Getting their workforce to actually use it.

Wayda says many implementations fall short because they’re treated as oversimplified IT projects that fail to account for the human element.

“Technology is just a tool, and if the workforce is not adopting the tool, it’s not going to be efficient, and you’re not going to see the realizations,” Wayda says.

A common mistake, he notes, is failing to involve end users early in the process. Companies often select and deploy transportation management systems without clearly defining business goals or explaining how employee roles will change. Training also tends to focus on system navigation instead of how the technology supports day-to-day responsibilities.

Wayda argues that adoption improves significantly when employees are brought into the process from the start, from evaluating vendors to testing systems and shaping workflows. That early involvement builds ownership, and reduces resistance once the technology goes live.

Artificial intelligence is also starting to play a larger role, although not necessarily by replacing workers. Instead, Wayda says, AI is helping transportation planners and dispatchers process large volumes of real-time data, offering faster insights and providing support for decision-making.

“The work starts when the implementation is complete,” he says. “That’s when you actually start driving value out of your software.”