Gen AI in Supply Chain Planning – More than a Simple Change in UX

Now a days Gen AI models are being used one way or the other in all kinds of applications including supply chain planning solutions. However, by far in most cases its use in supply chain technology is limited to a simple user interface, natural language processing or even preparing PowerPoint slides from the system-generated reports. This is useful but falls short of the real potential of Gen AI. In fact, many of such deployments of Gen AI are already available and can be deployed from Microsoft amongst others. Gen AI combined with supply chain planning technology has the potential to offer much more in building resilient supply chains, in responding to disruptions and guiding users where they need to focus their attention to make the right decisions.

An example of this approach is to deploy Gen AI models to interpret incoming messages from suppliers, customers, transportation companies, and weather stations amongst others and then be able to find the relevance of the message followed by understanding the impact. Finally use the intelligence of the system to make recommendations to the end users. This is where the real intelligence lies and how productivity can be improved. Trying to do this process manually requires numerous person hours and days; and even then, due to the large number of variables, the quality of the decisions is unknown.

Organizations are under pressure to deploy Gen AI due to many different factors, simply to demonstrate they are not falling behind. However, it is prudent to evaluate the real value of how the new technology is deployed. Otherwise, they miss the opportunity to make a quantum jump in favor of a cosmetic change.