Orion delivers Systems of Action to Frontline Edge Operations with Frontline AI

2023 is shaping up to be a game-changing year for the implementation of AI. 

Today’s global enterprises know AI offers the potential to unlock transformative productivity for knowledge workers. However, forward-thinking businesses know they must similarly deliver AI to their frontline workforce to fully realize AI-driven productivity across the enterprise, all while reinforcing safety protocols. 

Unlike desked or knowledge work, the nature of frontline work requires innovative methods to deliver AI to edge and task workers. Any solution must consider and support how frontline workers operate day-to-day and deliver productivity measurable in seconds to minutes per worker per shift.

Orion has pioneered frontline worker access to AI, enabling an easy and compelling new concept: Frontline AI.

Frontline AI will enable a generational leap in frontline workforce productivity, comparable to the frontline impact of Henry Ford’s assembly line or the introduction of the personal computer to knowledge-based work nearly 30 years ago.

So what exactly is Frontline AI? Let’s dive in.

What is Frontline AI?

Our Frontline AI Platform delivers automation through proprietary Voice AI Workflows. 

It’s intentional that we chose voice to power Frontline AI. Voice delivery supports the employee experience (EX) and the everyday reality of frontline workers performing their jobs and completing routine tasks — deskless, dispersed, and heads up. Voice is the necessary bridge between the functions performed by frontline workers and the transformative benefits of AI for operations automation and worker safety.

The frontline workforce tools must enable team members to stay heads up and focused. Frontline AI meets this requirement by utilizing voice-driven inputs and using natural language processing (NLP) to turn voice into data. This innovative process powers our Voice AI Workflows, unlocking operations automation at the edge or point of frontline work. 

Learn about Orion’s Voice AI Workflow: Speech-to-Speech Translation

Frontline AI and Systems of Action

Voice AI Workflows offer new and creative solutions to old and nagging problems facing today’s frontline enterprises. Deskless dispersed workers need the ability to access and provide data and information in real time from the edge. 

Orion resolves this pain point with our Voice AI Workflows. Frontline employees trigger Voice AI Workflows in two ways, a voice command that starts a back-end, automated process, or a voice query that sends or retrieves information from systems of record back to the frontline user. 

Frontline AI turns these actions or inputs into data, ultimately providing enterprises with a mature, digital, and AI-driven system of action. 

Traditional IT systems, knowledge bases, and operational systems of record have been burdensome to access at the frontline. Orion’s Voice AI Workflows are a system of action for frontline workers, making it simple to access or update corporate or operational systems of record. Frontline AI empowers task workers with data and information typically available only to knowledge workers — another game-changing step for productivity. 

Learn about Orion’s Voice AI Workflow: Shift Check-in

Unlocking the Productivity Curve with Frontline AI

Prior to the recent radical advancements in AI, it’s undeniable that worker output had generally been stagnant year after year. As technological advancements race towards new AI-driven possibilities, global enterprises must rethink the nature of the tasks assigned to frontline workers and provide them the tools they need to compete with new, unlocked productivity. 

We’ve seen firsthand how introducing Frontline AI Voice Workflows and operations automation amplifies productivity over time — an effect no enterprise with a frontline workforce can afford to neglect.

Frontline AI offers four advantages to transform frontline work: 

1. The ability to automate routine processes.
2. The ability to remove the long-standing barriers that prevent the frontline workforce from accessing critical business knowledge and information.
3. The ability to get more work throughput with the same size workforce.
4. The ability to reinforce and enhance safety protocols.

Learn More About Orion’s Frontline AI Capabilities

A growing list of forward-thinking global enterprises relies on Orion’s Frontline AI to unlock operations automation. The enterprises spanning industries like hospitality, transit & transportation, logistics, retail, and more that embrace Frontline AI now will inevitably outcompete and outperform their competitors. 

Want to learn more about the possibilities of Frontline AI for your organization? 

Let’s Chat!

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In this video, Raúl Castañon, Senior Analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence, shares how voice user interfaces help improve productivity for the frontline workforce.

“When we talk about digitization for Frontline workers, it’s usually hard to figure out a way for them to engage with technology, given that they are usually moving around interacting with customers and not sitting at their desk.” – Raúl Castañon.

Watch to learn how voice user interfaces support:

• Direct communication between frontline workers, teams, and supervisors.
• Automation with processes like speech-to-speech translation, digital forms, and checklists.
• Integrations and interactions with backend systems for commands or queries.

Orion PTT 2.0 and Voice AI Workflows: Do More with Voice

Orion is the only PTT 2.0 platform powered by Voice AI designed for the frontline workforce. Our platform uses voice to transform frontline workforce productivity, connecting people to people and people to enterprise systems. Our proprietary Voice AI Workflows are systems of action for the frontline worker with voice-driven process automation and integrations to leading operational systems of record.

Our Voice AI Workflows also connect via our API integrations into back-end systems of record, task management, collaboration, or industry-specific solutions like Transportation Management Software, Hospitality Operations Software, Retail Management Software, and more.

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Deliver Operations Automation with Orion’s Award-Winning Push-to-Talk Accessory

Orion’s award-winning, patented Onyx device helps the frontline workforce take advantage of our proprietary Frontline AI however and wherever they operate — on the go, heads up, or engaged with customers or guests.

The frontline device acts as a delivery system for operations automation and enables task workers to do knowledge and information work at the frontline. Frontline workers like retail associates, hospitality staff, healthcare teams, and high-tech manufacturing workers use Orion’s patented wearable device to access Orion’s revolutionary Voice AI Workflows and immediately improve productivity.

The Onyx makes it simple to invoke Orion’s Voice AI Workflows as systems of action to update corporate or operational systems of record. Workers also stay connected with teams and deliver push-to-talk voice messages over cellular and wireless networks in real time.

Get the Orion Onyx Fact Sheet

The Best Wearable for Frontline Workers

Unlike other frontline wearable devices, the Onyx is a sleek, durable device that meets the needs of customer facing retail employees and guest-facing hospitality workers as much as the needs of behind the scenes healthcare staff and manufacturing warehouse or logistics workers.

The device clips onto a lapel, pocket, belt, or strap. Users can also plug in a headset or earpiece for discreet communication in public environments. As long as workers are within 30 feet of their Bluetooth-enabled iOS or Android device, they can communicate over any WiFi or cellular network.

Want to see the Orion Onyx in action?

Don’t miss the Orion Onyx on CBS Innovation Nation. Orion Co-Founder Jesse Robbins shares an in-depth look at how Orion’s smart wearable is unlike any other device on the market and transforms how the frontline workforce communicates and operates.

Can’t see the video above? Click here to watch.

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Learn How the Premier, Private Country Club Uses Orion to Create a Haven for Guests

Virginia-based Belle Haven Country Club is a private club focused on creating a haven for its members, their families, and guests. Belle Haven sits on 460 acres along the Potomac River and offers an 18-hole golf course, tennis complex, fitness center, pool, and clubhouse with multiple dining options and a ballroom for events.

Belle Haven staff relies on Orion’s communication’s solution to provide an exceptional guest experience as the club’s operations are challenged during a period of 25% growth in membership year-over-year.

Watch the customer testimonial video to learn how Belle Haven relies on Orion Push-to-Talk 2.0:

Learn More About Orion Push-to-Talk (PTT) 2.0

Orion’s collaboration platform helps hospitality operations of all kinds, including hotels, gaming facilities, and events facilities. Each relies on Orion for improved communication to better serve guests, boost productivity, and keep staff and guests safer. Here are a few benefits of Orion PTT 2.0:

• AI Voice Bots provide solutions like real-time language translation, alerts, and information retrieval help staff improve guest experiences while staying heads-up and hands-free.
• Teams communicate via push-to-talk in ad hoc, 1:1, or group environments that enable managers to connect directly with relevant workers like food and beverage service, housekeeping, security, engineering, spa, grounds, transportation, and front desk teams.
• Managers gain a single-pane view of operations with geolocation information for all staff, even when the manager is operating off-site.
• Emergency response with automated protocols and geolocation keep staff and guests safer.

Learn More About Orion for Hospitality

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They Each Use the Orion Push-to-Talk 2.0 for Security Operations.

Orion helps teams across industries with frontline operations. But there is often a common need that spans all these industries: Security.

Keeping people and property safe is mission-critical for every business, and for many of today’s enterprise organizations, this requires a physical security and executive protection team. These teams face the typical communications challenges that result from a distributed, on-the-go workforce. They require a particular set of solutions that meet their distinct operational needs, support efficiency, effectiveness and safety, and enable each team member to stay heads up and alert.

Where in the past, many of these teams relied on legacy radios, now they’re searching for something new and innovative. Physical security operations have realized they need a sophisticated communications solution that helps them stay ahead of bad actors and threats. Outdated radios or limited push-to-talk (PTT) applications that lose range and lack AI voice automations no longer fit the bill.

This is why many of our security customers have turned to Orion.

The Benefits of the Orion PTT 2.0 Platform for Security Operations

So, what do our customers gain with Orion’s comprehensive voice solution? The Orion PTT 2.0 Platform for Security provides:

• Multimodal PTT functionality with voice, text, photo, video, and file communications.
• Command Center provides a complete view of real-time operations so Security Operations Centers (SOCs) can improve operational control.
• Voice AI Bots that are always on and ready to perform complex workflows by responding to voice queries, commands, events, or actions.
• End-to-End Encryption that meets the highest standards of today’s security teams, so messages are always protected.
• Situational Intelligence & Reporting gained by all of the location and voice data sent over the platform. This data boosts SOCs insights into real-time activities and enables archiving of data for analysis.
• Third-Party Integrations supported by Orion’s patented API layer give voice access to critical backend systems while users stay heads up and situationally aware.

Four Orion PTT 2.0 Use Cases for Security

While the fundamentals are the same, each use case is different. Let’s take a look at each:

A top crypto exchange needed a sophisticated voice-first solution for its executive protection (EP) team. They selected Orion for our ability to work on any available LTE network and WiFi – a necessary requirement with high-profile executives traveling around the globe. Orion also met their cybersecurity requirements for end-to-end encryption built into the platform’s foundation. Orion’s Operations Console supports the organization’s Global Security Operations Center (GSOC) with a complete view of its executive protection team operating in real-time around the globe.

A social media giant also relies on Orion to provide world-class executive protection for its executives with demanding, global travel schedules. Orion Voice AI Bots also assist the team with geolocation-based triggers. When the executive leaves the office, automatic workflows alert teams when the executive has left the office, is en route to a new location, or is pending arrival. Each team member always knows the executive’s location and is prepared for the next step in a standard operating procedure.

A private university required a modern push-to-talk solution to replace radio devices that hindered clear communications and were limited in range. Orion’s PTT 2.0 ensures their ability to seamlessly scale for campus events or staff requirements. Orion is also available on any device, including smartphones, tablets, and desktops. Their campus security gained greater situational awareness via Orion’s location-based insights showing the geolocation of team members. Orion supports connectivity via WiFi or LTE, ensuring the security team can communicate over any distance — even offsite.

The Intelligence Community employs Orion for incident response with a secure communications environment that spins up, runs, and spins down for globally dispersed teams operating in real time. Special operations teams use Orion’s patented Voice AI Bots to increase efficiency and amplify their abilities on the go with automated workflows like checklists, geofence or location-based triggers, emergency or all-call alerts, translation of more than 60 languages, and more. Orion’s ability to integrate into field and government technology like ATAK (Android Team Awareness/Tactical Assault Kit), geospatial systems like ESRI, and more help teams stay situationally aware in the field.

Want to learn if Orion’s PTT 2.0 is right for your security needs? Contact us today.

Contact Orion Today

You might also like:

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• E-book: 12 Reasons Radios Are Holding Your Company Back
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How Push-to-Talk Communication Enables True Collaboration 

Communicating with frontline logistics teams is challenging because frontline teams often work in remote locations, and they are constantly on the move in warehouses, at depots, or on the road.

Companies rely on radios to communicate with frontline workers, but radios fail when teams communicate across long distances and through physical barriers like concrete walls.

Communication is often disjointed, with workers isolated for extended periods of time. These communication blackouts decrease efficiency and clog the supply chain.

Most companies are beginning to realize the importance of real-time communication for frontline workers. According to a Harvard Business Review survey, nearly 86% of companies say frontline workers need better technology to support accurate, real-time judgment calls. Many companies are investing in collaboration software to connect their entire workforce.

Why Is Real-time Communication So Important in Logistics?

Effective logistics is a complex coordination of warehousing and transporting goods. Successful logistics increases efficiency, lowers costs, and improves production rates, inventory control, and use of warehouse space. Both customers and suppliers are more satisfied, ensuring better long-term relationships.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, logistics has remained in a constant state of flux. Logistics teams continue to face challenges, including high fuel prices, labor shortages, disrupted supply chains, geo-political upheaval, and difficulty sourcing raw materials and securing available transport.

Many of these logistics challenges are exacerbated by communication delays and disruptions, making effective logistics communications across supervisors and frontline teams more important than ever. The world is moving fast, and logistics teams need to keep up.

How Radios Fail Logistics Teams

Frontline employees and management teams need real-time collaboration to operate at the most efficient levels. Radios are the most common communication choice for logistics and warehouse teams, but they are not the best choice. Radios don’t provide the collaboration capabilities required to successfully navigate today’s complex challenges.

1. Radio networks are geographically limited with connectivity issues. They don’t effectively link workers distributed in warehouses, shipping depots, and on the road. Radio transmissions are impacted by the number of floors, stairwells, and walls in a given location and communicating in concrete structures with radios is almost impossible. Dispatch centers and supervisors need continuous contact with all team members, but radios have gaps in connectivity.
2. Radios are single-function devices, restricted to voice communications. Voice alone is not always enough to explain a situation clearly or provide detailed instructions to a team member. The longer it takes to accurately describe a situation, the more likely you are to have delayed shipments and deliveries.
3. Radios do not keep track of team members. One of the most common uses for radios is determining the status and location of deskless workers, but radios can’t tell dispatchers where workers are, which vehicles are in motion, and who’s online and listening. The first question dispatchers usually ask is, “what is your location?” Dispatchers must wait for the workers to stop what they are doing to respond to know where they are. It is difficult to optimize operations when you don’t know where everyone is.
4. Radios do not enable automated processes. If a frontline worker has a question, they must contact someone on the radio, ask the question, and then wait for that person to find the answer. There is no quick way to access information from back-end systems, and routine status checks and verifications of procedures require a two-way conversation.
5. With radios, incidents and emergency situations like incapacitations, location breaches, and panic alarms are handled with a call across a radio channel. Someone must hear the call, respond, and manually start emergency procedures. If no one is listening at that moment, the incident response is delayed. If there is a fire in a warehouse or a driver has broken down, you want to begin emergency procedures as quickly as possible.
6. Radios do not record and archive conversations, so you aren’t capturing any information from communications shared between team members. This information is useful for optimizing operations and during incident review and compliance meetings.

The Solution: Push-to-Talk 2.0 (PTT)

Maintaining connection with your entire logistics team doesn’t have to be difficult. With a unified communication platform like Orion’s PTT 2.0, you can reach your team any time, anywhere. Logistics challenges can be solved faster with increased range, complete connectivity, and automated processes.

With Push-to-Talk 2.0, you can:

1. Stay connected with frontline workers no matter where they are. PTT 2.0 does not have the connectivity issues that radios have. Logistics teams located in warehouses, depots, and on the road stay connected over any network, including LTE, private LTE, Wi-Fi, satellite, and mesh. Workers can communicate over any distance, including on-site, on the road, across town, or across the continent and maintain connectivity through floors, stairwells, and concrete walls.
2. Tell the complete story with multimodal communication. If a team member needs to document an event from the road, a warehouse, or any remote location, they can capture the situation using texts, photos, PDFs, videos, and any other supporting documents. Management gets a clear picture of the situation, enabling better incident review and analysis as well as improved compliance reporting if required.
3. Use advanced location services with real-time geolocation of each employee to always know the exact location of every asset and team member. With real-time visibility across the entire logistics team, operational command can monitor and adjust plans, optimize routes, and update delivery estimates without interrupting workers for status checks.
4. Enable automated processes, so routine and structured tasks don’t require a person-to-person connection.
   1. With process automation voice bots, frontline workers use voice-activated checklists and automated check-ins. For example, workers responsible for transporting goods can use voice bots to complete checklists and compliance forms prior to moving goods. This ensures smoother movement of products through the supply chain and provides complete visibility for compliance checks.
   2. Intelligence amplification bots provide frontline workers real-time access to systems, data, and subject matter experts from the road, in the factory, or in the warehouse. Workers can consult manuals and receive instructions from bots, so they don’t have to wait for a person to manually search for information.
   3. AI bots automate safety check-ins to monitor the location, status, and movement of each team member. No one in operational command has to stop work to wait for a response, and frontline workers can quickly click a button to respond without interrupting their work.
5. Use Emergency Response Bots to enable automated emergency response with a single word, ensuring the fastest response. If there is a problem, the worker simply uses a predefined codeword and voice-activated, real-time automated workflows are triggered to manage the emergency response. Push-to-Talk 2.0 AI bots provide multi-step workflows that deliver on-demand intelligence, enabling faster, smarter responses to location breaches, lone worker situations, and other incidents or emergencies. Operational command receives notification of the incident in real time and can monitor the situation and response.
6. Record and archive all staff messages and interactions, including voice, text, and visual media. Operational command can monitor communication groups and process information in real time or on demand. Management can search and retrieve information for incident reporting, reaction analysis, and compliance reporting. This information also helps teams optimize operations.

Learn How PTT 2.0 Can Help Your Logistics Team

As logistics challenges continue to grow, frontline workers need better technology to support accurate, real-time judgment calls. With PTT 2.0, logistics challenges can be managed more effectively, ensuring faster delivery of goods, optimized transportation, and safer work environments.

Security Magazine Features Orion on the Benefits of Voice-First Communications for Security Teams

Today’s elevated threat landscape requires security leaders to know their teams are always prepared for urgent situations. Reliable, innovative technology plays a crucial role in ensuring operations can meet the demands of any crisis. The right tech stack for security operations includes communications and collaboration technology built to support emergency response and routine procedures.

So how do security leaders know they’ve deployed the best communications technology for their team?

Improving Security Communications with Push-to-Talk 2.0

In an article recently published in Security Magazine, Orion’s Roopa Misra shared why security operations urgently need to adopt effective communications tools:

“One of the most significant risks in the security industry is relying on limited communications technologies like radios or simple first-generation push-to-talk (PTT) apps. Each lacks the innovations of today’s intelligent solutions and cannot meet the full requirements of an enterprise-ready solution. Security Operations Centers (SOC) still struggle to communicate with personnel in the field, and teams in the field struggle to communicate with each other.”

Security guards, dispatchers, armed incident response teams, executive protection teams, and SOC analysts cannot properly do their jobs without effective communication. So, what’s the solution? Push-to-Talk (PTT) 2.0.

Misra explains:

“PTT 2.0 is the modern, intelligent solution to transform how security teams communicate and respond to today’s threats. All physical security personnel can benefit from improved communications. With PTT 2.0, physical security and executive protection teams will be prepared to meet their evolving communication and collaboration requirements for years to come.”

Get the Article to learn more about Orion PTT 2.0.

Read the Security Magazine Article

Transforming Security Operations with Orion PTT 2.0

PTT 2.0 is the ideal solution for security teams. It starts with the foundation of traditional push-to-talk, including voice, text, videos, and files such as PDFs. Security teams communicate with each other and their GSOC over any device, any network, including Wi-Fi and LTE, and any distance. Teams never lose connectivity across buildings, campuses, cities, or global operations.

Orion’s PTT 2.0 then layers innovations to create a comprehensive, enterprise-ready platform. Voice AI Bots listen and respond to voice commands providing automations like bidirectional, voice-to-voice translation, automated checklists, geofence triggers, man-down alerts, and more. End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) ensures that all messages are encrypted — a mission-critical component of field operations. Third-Party Integrations give voice to back-end systems and amplify situational intelligence via access to information and tools on the go while remaining heads up. And lastly, situational intelligence and reporting capabilities capture all communications and data points like location-based insights to provide a complete view of operations in real-time.

In the article, Misra covers seven ways PTT 2.0 transforms security operations, including:

#1 Expanded Operational Control for Security Operations Centers (SOC)

#2 Connectivity No Matter the Distance

#3 Seamless, Real-time Communication During Critical Situations

And More…

Download the article to learn all the ways PTT 2.0 transforms security operations.

Get the Security Magazine Article

You might also like:

• Webinar: The Future of Physical Security Communication with Push-to-Talk 2.0
• Orion Video: What is PTT 2.0?
• Orion at Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC) 2022
• Push-to-Talk 2.0 (PTT 2.0): Transforming Communications for the Defense and Intelligence Communities
• Article: Field Operations: Driving Change With Voice in the Age of AI
• E-book: 12 Reasons Radios Are Holding Your Company Back
• E-book: The Future of Voice at Work

Taylor Recognized for His Notable Achievements in Driving Orion’s Market Leading Position and Global Growth

SAN FRANCISCO, August 30, 2022 — Orion Labs, Inc., the only voice-first Push-to-Talk (PTT) 2.0 and Unified Communications platform, today announced that Orion Chief Executive Officer Greg Taylor has been named a CEO Visionary by the Los Angeles Times. L.A. Times included Taylor in its list of CEOs who have exhibited exceptional leadership qualities within their organizations and communities across California.

L.A. Times B2B Publishing included its second annual list of CEO Visionaries in its C-Suite: Trends, Updates and CFO Leadership Awards. The magazine presented an in-depth look at the essential roles of CEOs and CFOs and how they’re navigating their companies through today’s challenging business climate.

Taylor was noted for how his servant-first leadership has shaped the inclusive, performance culture propelling Orion’s emergence as a leader in the enterprise frontline collaboration category. Taylor raised over $30 million in investment for Orion to connect the enterprise by solving the leading problems of productivity, automation and safety for the estimated 3 billion global deskless workers. Taylor also directed innovation investments in Orion’s category-leading platform, resulting in 16 new patents. Orion expects to continue its market expansion and double revenue growth by the end of 2022.

“Orion is radically modernizing frontline collaboration and its role in building the connected enterprise via Unified Communications,” said Greg Taylor, Orion CEO. “Orion truly changes the game with Voice AI Bots and voice-automated integrations to enterprise systems to support workforces operating in dynamic, complex environments. I’m honored to be recognized by the Los Angeles Times for leading Orion’s incredible team on our category-defining journey.”

Orion’s innovative Push-to-Talk (PTT) 2.0 collaboration solution is a cloud-based platform service that dramatically improves push-to-talk communications. Orion transforms frontline operations with an innovative Unified Communications strategy that drives success across industries such as transportation, manufacturing, retail, logistics, hospitality, security, and more.

Taylor is a veteran executive and entrepreneur in technology, serving most recently as president and COO of global SaaS leaders HighQ and Eka Solutions, and notably as EVP and partner at Triple Point Technology, overseeing growth in revenue and EBITDA that led to one of 2013’s largest software company exits. He currently sits on four boards, two of which are based in California.

About Orion

Orion is the leading voice-first, cloud-based Push-to-Talk 2.0 (PTT 2.0) intelligent Unified Communications platform. Orion’s patented Voice Bots and platform integrations deliver value-added services, automate routine processes, respond instantaneously in critical situations, and amplify team member knowledge. The platform improves frontline team productivity, safety and compliance, and customer and staff engagement.

Orion was recently named a Top 10 Intelligent Transport Systems Solution Provider for 2021 by Logistics and Transportation Review, a Top 10 Industrial IoT Solution Provider 2020 by Manufacturing Technology Insights, and an IDC Innovator. Orion holds 55 patents that support its award-winning solutions. For more information, visit www.orionlabs.io.

Stay in touch with Orion Labs | LinkedIn | Blog

SAN FRANCISCO, August 23, 2022 — Orion Labs, Inc., the only voice-first Push-to-Talk (PTT) 2.0 and Unified Communications platform, today announced Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) selected Orion’s Voice Platform to provide bi-directional language translation services for the paper mill’s logistics operations via the Orion Language Translation Voice AI Bot.

PCA is one of the largest producers of containerboard and corrugated packaging products in the U.S. The company has over 120 facilities — including seven containerboard mills and 89 manufacturing locations. Their workforce comprises approximately 15,200 employees, with operations primarily in the United States.

PCA required a language translation solution to assist its logistics workforce in communicating with multilingual, non-workforce drivers making 100s of deliveries to various locations across its manufacturing sites daily. PCA’s mill managers needed a better way to communicate in real time with the drivers and provide directions to different loading docks around the mills.

PCA selected Orion for its Language Translation Bot, which ensures drivers receive directions from the mill’s staff in their native languages, including Arabic, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, UA Yemen, and Ukrainian. Drivers communicate in their native language, and Orion translates those communications back into English for the PCA mill team.

Orion’s Voice Bot real-time language translation solution is a powerful productivity tool that unlocks access to an expanded labor pool, instantly translating over 60 languages between team members. Each worker communicates and receives responses from team members in their native language, ensuring everything is clearly understood.

Orion’s PTT 2.0 platform transforms frontline communications with its library of off-the-shelf or customizable Voice AI Bots. The always-on, always-ready Voice Bots perform complex, multi-step workflows that offload routine processes, respond to voice queries, and perform tasks based on commands, events, and actions. Orion’s patented Voice Bots also voice automate access to enterprise and 3rd-party systems via API and custom integrations.

About Orion

Orion is the leading voice-first, cloud-based Push-to-Talk 2.0 (PTT 2.0) intelligent Unified Communications platform. Orion’s patented Voice Bots and platform integrations deliver value-added services, automate routine processes, respond instantaneously in critical situations, and amplify team member knowledge. The platform improves frontline team productivity, safety and compliance, and customer and staff engagement.

Orion was recently named a Top 10 Intelligent Transport Systems Solution Provider for 2021 by Logistics and Transportation Review, a Top 10 Industrial IoT Solution Provider 2020 by Manufacturing Technology Insights, and an IDC Innovator. Orion holds 55 patents that support its award-winning solutions. For more information, visit www.orionlabs.io.

Stay in touch with Orion Labs | LinkedIn | Blog

How Real-time Translation Helps You Navigate the Current Labor Crisis

A Push-to-Talk translation solution can help you combat the severe labor shortage currently challenging hospitality organizations. According to a survey conducted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association, almost 97% of respondents are experiencing a staffing shortage, with 49% experiencing a severe shortage. This extreme staffing shortage is compounded by the post-pandemic rebound in demand for travel and entertainment.

Push-to-talk language translation can help by enabling you to hire non-native language speakers and make them effective day one. This is critical, since many hotels are hiring staff with little or no experience. Keeping hospitality employees can be as challenging as finding them. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average turnover rate in the leisure and hospitality industry is 84.9%.

Hospitality Communication Challenges

Even with increased wages, more flexible scheduling, and better benefits, 97% of hospitality managers surveyed have been unable to fill open positions. To fill these open slots, hospitality managers must be open to every possible candidate. Eliminating people just because they don’t speak the manager’s required language disregards too many strong applicants in a time when hospitality organizations desperately need to increase staff.

At the same time, hiring people who speak a different language presents some challenges.

• Teaching new skills can be difficult if you don’t speak the same language.
  • If new hires don’t understand what you are saying, you have to repeat instructions or find other ways to clarify, making the training process slower and lowering team productivity.
  • You need to onboard staff as quickly as possible to minimize disruptions to guests, but you also need to onboard correctly to ensure the highest quality of service to guests. Your new hires need to understand and follow correct procedures and work well with the rest of your team.
• Managing routine tasks is more difficult when your staff speak several languages. Some staff members may misunderstand instructions, creating delays and more work for the team. Some tasks require collaboration, which is difficult if team members can’t communicate with each other. According to a study by Urban bound, an estimated $37 billion dollars is spent annually managing employees who do not understand their jobs.
• Emergencies and unexpected events can be impossible to manage. If an unusual event occurs, describing the event and coordinating the response and steps required to resolve it may cause confusion, resulting in delays and disrupting guests’ experiences.
• Customer service will suffer. If staff members are confused, their frustration may become evident to your guests, impacting customer service.
• Turnover will remain high. Keeping good staff members is difficult if you can’t communicate with them. Their confusion about job requirements or daily communication can make them feel isolated and frustrated, leading them to find new jobs that are less stressful.

The Communication Solution: Push-to-Talk 2.0

What Is Push-to-Talk (PTT) 2.0?

Push-to-talk is a voice-first communication solution. When you need to communicate, you push a button on a handheld device to instantly stream your message to one or many people at once. You let go to listen.

Unlike radios which have spotty coverage and limited range, PTT 2.0 has unlimited range. It works in basements, through concrete stairwells, and across large properties. It also enables more than just voice communication. Workers can share photos, videos, and documents – whatever they need to clearly communicate with their team.

Push-to-talk 2.0 is powered by Voice AI Bots and platform integrations, moving beyond simple communication to voice-activated automated workflows, real-time asset location services, bi-directional language translation and transcription, and more.

Push-to-Talk Language Translation

Orion’s Language Translation instantly translates over 60 languages with the push of a button. Your team members simply push a button, speak in their language, and let Orion’s Voice AI bots translate their voice into the right language for other team members or managers.

Teams hear messages in their languages individually, and respond in their languages, and Orion translates it back to the original language for the original speaker. Orion’s Push-to-Talk Language Translation provides real-time, two-way, translate out and translate back communication to any location with any network connection using any communication device.

This is extremely powerful for onboarding new staff and ensuring guests receive the best possible experience. 

• Teaching new skills is easier if staff can understand the instructions they are provided. New staff can ask questions with confidence and receive clear answers they understand. Without effective training, it takes about 8 months for a new employee to become productive.
• Onboarding is faster, ensuring teams are more productive. Onboarding is more effective, because new staff understand directions and can follow correct procedures. Research on successful onboarding shows that when onboarding is done correctly, new employees have higher job satisfaction, stronger commitment to the organization, and increased performance levels.
• Teams are more collaborative and effective. Everyone on the team can communicate clearly and effectively with the rest of the team. They work together better because they can communicate with each other without struggling to find a common language.
• Managing tasks is easier because everyone receives instructions, and can ask questions, in their language. All procedures are understood and followed.
• Emergencies and surprise events are handled efficiently and effectively. If an unusual event occurs, staff can describe the event clearly in their chosen language. Management can provide guidance and the team can collaborate to determine how best to resolve the issue. Everyone can ask questions in their language, ensuring complete understanding of the problem and the steps to resolve it.
• Guest experience is improved.
  • Because the staff is onboarded faster and more completely, guests receive the best experience. New staff understand processes better, having received clear directions in their primary language.
  • Staff members are not confused or frustrated trying to figure out their jobs. They work with more confidence and ease, providing a more positive presence to guests.
  • Research by Cornell University shows a direct link between better guest experiences and employees who are motivated and engaged.
• Staff are less likely to quit. In a recent survey, employees at organizations with little collaboration reported being 4.5 times more likely to quit their jobs. With Push-to-Talk Language Translation, staff members no longer feel isolated or confused. They can communicate easily with coworkers, ask questions in their primary language, and collaborate on projects without difficulty.
• Onboarding is less expensive. Because it takes less time to onboard staff, you save money training them and they are productive more quickly.

Do Even More with Voice AI Bots and Automated Workflows

Orion’s PTT 2.0 provides hospitality organizations more than just translation services. Since workers always have their PTT-enabled device on hand for translation, they can use the device for additional services like emergency response.

With PTT Emergency Alerts, workers can use a predefined emergency word – “help-help-help” for example – to trigger automated workflows that implement the correct procedures with that one voice command. External resources like emergency response teams can be automatically contacted as part of the automatic workflow. Hotel managers, maintenance, and other members of the team may be contacted as well.

Push-to-Talk Translation Can Help

Hospitality organizations endured years of upheaval during the Covid-19 pandemic. As consumers venture out more, these organizations face new challenges finding enough workers to meet demand. Translation solutions enable hospitality organizations to widen their applicant pool without compromising customer service, efficiency, or company standards. Onboarding is faster and better, ensuring the best guest experience.

Watch a Quick Demonstration of Orion’s Translation App