New systems, better reporting, and faster workflows; all with AI that can read documents, ingest data, and compress hours of manual effort into minutes.
For complex industries like logistics, where timing, accuracy, compliance, and customer trust collide, the appeal is obvious. But in a conversation between Kendra Johnson of The Venned Group and Derek Johnson (no relation), COO of Welke, one theme rose above the rest: technology is only as powerful as the foundation beneath it.
"I don't think technology is going to fix your business. I think it needs to be kind of a concrete foundation before you put technology on it. It's a good multiplier, but trying to think that it's going to fix your problems is probably not what it is," explained Derek.
The Tool Is Not the Transformation
Leaders across all industries are pressured to move quickly. AI is becoming less of a curiosity and more of a competitive requirement.
McKinsey's 2025 global survey found that 88% of respondents reported regular AI use in at least one business function, up from 78% the year before. Yet only about one third of companies had begun to scale AI programs, and McKinsey noted that most organizations still have not embedded it deeply enough into workflows and processes to realize material benefits at the enterprise level.
Many transformations stall in that gap between adoption and impact.
Welke's story offers a more pragmatic path. The company didn't begin with AI for AI's sake. It began with an operational constraint.
Customers needed visibility, shipments had to clear quickly, data could not live in fragmented systems.
As Derek explained, the company needed "one central data point" so customers could find everything from historical clearance information to the current status of a shipment.
Which is the first discipline of meaningful modernization: name the business problem before choosing the tool for a solution.
Speed Matters, But Trust Carries the Weight
Time is critical to operations in customs brokerage and freight forwarding.
Earlier AI tools took 45 minutes to an hour to read and ingest a document package, while the newer systems, by contrast, can help move a shipment from document ingestion to review and submission in roughly "45 seconds to a minute," assuming the product has been imported before and the data already exists in the back end.
That holds significant productivity implications, as Derek noted that an employee manually entering the data could complete roughly nine entries per day, while the new tech can support close to 31.
But the more interesting part of the story is how it's framed.
"We're never going to replace people with technology," Derek said. "That's been our dedication since we've done this roll out."
Which of course, employees have heard preambles before, often just before reductions arrive dressed as efficiency. But the message appears to have landed differently because it's paired with behavior: more hands on training, direct communication, town halls, and a willingness to answer the basic questions without condescension.
And Welke's approach to the human element is important. BCG's 2026 AI at Work research found that 42% of regular AI users among frontline employees report saving a full workday or more per week through AI, but 66% receive limited or no guidance on what to do with that time. The same report found that clear strategy improves measurable business impact far more than better tools alone.
Or, in other words, time saved is not value created. Leadership has to convert one into the other, a crucial pillar to Welke's modernization.
The "Why" Is Not a Soft Issue
For employees who had spent 25 or 30 years doing the work, some since the era of typewriters, new tech wasn't automatically an upgrade.
In some cases, it could feel like more work, more uncertainty, and another decision made somewhere else above them.
"Understanding the why," explained Derek, "was the one the we missed along the way a couple of times."
Their approach became more durable when the company slowed down enough to translate the vision. AI was not being positioned as artificial judgment replacing human expertise, rather, it was being used to extract data from customs documentation, so experienced employees could spend less time on monotonous entry and more time applying what they know instead of "playing catch up."
Modernization Without Amnesia
One of the biggest takeaways is that legacy can be an asset to transformation if leaders know what to preserve and what to not.
Welke's advantage is that it can combine speed with institutional knowledge, customer intimacy, and trust built over decades. Derek spoke in detail about the value of tenure, of people who know the work, answer the phone, and help customers navigate ambiguity when larger providers may be harder to reach.
BCG made a similar point in its AI transformation research, arguing that changing how people work is the bridge between AI adoption and advantage. The firm emphasizes realistic starting points, role specific learning, trust, transparency, and measuring value by the business outcomes unlocked.
Serving as a counterpoint to the louder mythology of AI. The future doesn't belong only to the companies with the biggest budgets and flashiest tools, it belongs to the companies that can build a sturdy operating foundation, choose technology with discernment, and bring their people with them.
AI can multiply speed, it can multiply capacity, and it can multiply visibility. But it also multiples whatever culture already exists.