Gartner: top-performing supply chains more likely to invest in AI

According to Gartner, the research, conducted between August and October 2023, showed a divide between high and low performers in optimising processes with AI and Machine Learning that “hints at a deeper rift in strategy among organisations”. The research giant claims that top performers “increasingly prioritise extracting value from their digital assets to drive productivity, rather than making digital investments to achieve efficiencies such as cost savings.”

Gartner states that the “high performers” were those reporting performance that exceeded expectations over the last 12 months across the 5 measurements in supply chain outcomes; demand forecasting, order management and fulfilment, supply planning, logistics and distribution, and sales operations planning/integrated business planning.

Moreover, Gartner says that in the top 5 digital investments expected to deliver value, high performers are farther along in implementation compared to their lower performing peers, as the following figures show:

• Partner with IT to establish unbreachable data security mechanisms (74% vs. 61%)
• Create ethical and binding data privacy frameworks for use of customer data (68% vs. 50%)
• Write cybersecurity measures into supplier and staff contracts (66% vs. 57%)
• Capture supply chain specific customer satisfaction data (58% vs. 40%)
• Analyse and leverage supply chain specific customer use and satisfaction data (57% vs. 35%)

Commenting on the survey, Ken Chadwick, VP Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain Practice, said: 

“Capturing, protecting and then leveraging an organisation’s data through the use of AI and Machine Learning is an example of how organisations are increasingly turning towards intangible assets to extract new sources of value. High performing organisations are moving beyond the initial implementation stage to full adoption, resulting in better decision making that unlocks new sources of value.”