Sewasees
How Does Generative AI Transform "Management Burden"?
─ From Frontlines Across Various Industries
A common issue across various industries:
increasing burden on managers and executives.
With recent emphasis on compliance, the information to handle and documents to process have dramatically increased.
Here, we organize how generative AI can support field management from a supplier perspective.
🧩 1. What burdens do "managers/directors" face?
- Information overload: Need to grasp and make decisions on diverse information including processes, budgets, materials, personnel, and safety in real-time.
- Forecasting and risk management: Essential to respond to uncertainties such as weather and personnel shortages.
- Coordination and reporting burden: Extensive communication with suppliers, customers, HR departments, and document creation.
- Adapting to technological and regulatory changes: Technology and regulations change frequently, requiring managers to constantly catch up.
- Increased documentation and information management due to compliance requirements.
2. Five Areas Where Generative AI Can Provide Support
① Schedule Optimization & Multiple Plan Generation
AI systems like ALICE can rapidly generate and compare millions of process plans, achieving:
- 17% reduction in project duration
- 10-15% reduction in labor and equipment costs
This allows management teams to focus on "selecting the optimal plan."
② Resource & Cost Forecasting and Optimization
Generative AI automatically calculates highly accurate cost estimates based on historical data, preventing shortages or surpluses of materials, personnel, and equipment. This reduces the time managers spend collecting information for decision-making.
③ Automated Document & Report Generation
Significantly reduces time spent on progress reporting and document creation.
- Efficiency improvements through automatic inspection report generation via AutoRepo
- Can generate summaries for contracts and project reports
Supervisors can focus on "decision-making and field response" rather than report "summarization."
④ Risk Detection & Safety Monitoring
- AI detects anomalies in real-time and provides early risk warnings.
- Shawmut in Boston monitors safety violations and risks.
This reduces the physical monitoring burden on managers.
⑤ Field Data Utilization & Decision Support
- OpenSpace and Buildots visualize site progress using drones and sensors, with AI identifying discrepancies.
- In Oracle's case, AI automatically generates progress summaries and document key points.
Managers can more easily oversee "overall progress > partial deviations."
3. Implementation Framework (Supplier Perspective)
| Stage | Generative AI Application | Management Support Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Planning & Design | Schedule & Resource Optimization | Decision support through multi-option comparison |
| Procurement & Cost | Estimation & Cost Forecasting | Prevention of under/over-estimation |
| Process Progress | Automated Reports & Progress Tracking | Reduced effort in data input & organization |
| Safety & Quality | Risk Detection & Countermeasure Proposals | Reduced continuous monitoring burden |
| Data Utilization | Audio/Video → Summarization & Difference Identification | Can focus on practical decision-making |
4. Implementation Considerations
- Governance Design: Always establish a review system for AI proposals to avoid "AI dependency" and "black box" scenarios.
- High-Quality Data Preparation: Organizing reliable historical data is crucial for AI to make accurate judgments.
- Personnel Training: Essential that management teams have the ability to operate and utilize AI.
- Small-Scale PoC: Effective strategy to first test in specific areas like budget management or daily reports, then gradually expand.
Summary
- Challenge: Concerns about management fatigue and stagnation in personnel development due to increased information and decision-making burden.
- Value of Generative AI: Substitutes "burden tasks" such as information organization, plan proposals, and safety monitoring.
- Significance: Creates an "environment where focus can be dedicated to decision-making and responsibility," enabling higher quality management.
Like the gaming industry, in all industries, unless we design "let AI handle it, humans focus on decision-making," the workplace will continue to suffer. Making generative AI a management assistant is the first step toward a sustainable future.
If desired, we can also provide support in comparing specific AI solutions candidate by candidate!