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From packaging workflows and information management to HR compliance, businesses are using AI and automation to remove inefficiencies that quietly drain time and money.
Businesses looking to reduce costs are now moving their attention away from traditional measures such as layoffs and budget cuts. Instead, many are focusing on operational inefficiencies that quietly erode profitability every day. Across industries, technology has become the primary tool for identifying and eliminating hidden waste, whether it stems from lengthy packaging approval cycles, information overload, or manual HR processes. By automating repetitive tasks and improving accuracy, companies are discovering that meaningful savings often come from fixing long-standing operational bottlenecks rather than reducing headcount.
Packaging Efficiency Begins with Preventing Costly Mistakes
The packaging industry illustrates how seemingly small inefficiencies can produce significant financial consequences. Updating the packaging of an existing product can take between 120 and 180 days, even when only minor changes are required. At the same time, a single artwork error that reaches store shelves can result in a product recall costing millions of dollars.
Esko, whose solutions touch nine out of ten products on supermarket shelves, is addressing both challenges through AI-powered quality checks and a SaaS platform designed to connect fragmented supply chains.
“One of the biggest waste generators in the whole process is errors… an error related to the artwork actually makes it all the way to the shop shelves, which potentially is a recall risk for the brand owner. And now we’re talking about millions of dollars in terms of cost,” said Jan De Roeck, Marketing Director, Esko.
He added: “It takes a brand anywhere between 120 to 180 days, the best part of six months actually, to update an existing product that is already on the shop shelves, just to do a minor update. We’ve put it to ourselves as a mission to reduce that to a matter of weeks.”
AI also plays a critical role in improving quality control, according to Geert de Proost, Director of Product Offering at Esko.
“Nobody actually has 100% of the errors caught at any given point in time as a human. So one side of this thing is like, this is exactly where AI comes in. It’s impossible to do these things as a person,” he said.
By reducing manual errors while accelerating packaging updates, companies can avoid unnecessary costs before they materialize.
Information Overload Carries an Overlooked Price Tag
While manufacturers grapple with packaging workflows, consulting and public affairs, firms face a different source of hidden expense: information management. Senior professionals often spend hours every morning reviewing newsletters and news services while firms simultaneously maintain multiple costly subscription platforms.
Daemo AI is addressing both issues by consolidating information and automating news monitoring.
“A lot of senior people at these firms were spending at least two plus hours every morning just reading newsletters, articles, to figure out what mattered to which client… the partners can basically walk in and just the 12 things that matter for the day are ready, waiting for them, instead of being buried in like two plus hundred articles,” said Jimmy Carter, Founder, Daemo AI.
The technology also reduces software spending.
“These people are paying easily $20,000, $30,000 per year on some of those systems… that’s one area of saving for sure,” Carter said.
Beyond lowering costs, the time saved creates new business opportunities.
“Now some of the newer hires are able to go back on the hill and try to get new clients… It’s not just saving us money. A client could be like 60k a year, 70k a year for a new client if it’s like you’re serving a big university or a big trade association; this could be generating them profit,” he added.
The result is a shift from administrative work toward higher-value activities that directly contribute to growth.
Closing the Gap between Digital HR and Paper-based Compliance
For HR departments, inefficiency often arises from the disconnect between digital operations and regulatory requirements that still depend on printed documentation. Managing both environments consumes valuable time while increasing administrative complexity.
HRobots uses robotic process automation and optical character recognition (OCR) to automate data extraction from both paper and digital documents without requiring expensive enterprise software.
“For one regulator, it’s fine. For the second regulator, it’s fine. For the third control body… they said, okay, digital is work, but please print out before our control this paper and give us papers or digital files. So this is an example of how the world of people is still changing,” said Tomasz Drzewiecki, Founder, HRobots.
He explained that flexibility is central to the platform’s approach.
“Our platform helps people to mix, not only to go fully digital, but to allow people to choose whether to use an electronic form or maybe print out something and scan something and efficiently put it into the platform. This is one thing: saving HR time. But also compliance.”
Advances in AI are also improving document processing.
“Two months ago, we introduced a new OCR which is 50% better than the previous one… thanks to large language models, the increase of accuracy and speed and possibilities will be simply available on your mobile or on cheap machines without any clouds, which gives you also privacy,” Drzewiecki said.
As companies continue searching for sustainable ways to improve financial performance, many are finding that the greatest savings come from eliminating waste embedded within everyday operations. Whether it is preventing a costly packaging recall, replacing hours of manual news monitoring with curated intelligence, or streamlining HR compliance across paper and digital workflows, these operational improvements reduce costs without reducing people. Over time, those incremental efficiencies compound into measurable business value.
