Why integrating intelligence after the fact is a losing strategy
Supply chain leaders today face a deluge of possible AI investments. As capabilities grow and vendors promise to transform operations, many are rushing to layer intelligent solutions onto their existing supply chain tech stack.
But generic AI solutions, no matter how sophisticated, can’t transform your supply chain operations if they’re just bolted on from the outside. AI must be deeply embedded in your supply chain systems, with native access to your network data, operational context, and execution capabilities.
The biggest mistake I see companies make is viewing intelligence and visibility as two separate problems. They try to get “visibility” by aggregating data from their ERP, WMS, carriers, and suppliers — usually with significant lag. When a supplier’s production delay affects thousands of orders, finding out hours or days later means you’ve already missed critical intervention opportunities. Then they try to bolt on AI to make predictions and automate workflows. This fundamentally misunderstands both the problem and the opportunity.
What is needed are supply chains that can sense and respond in real time. Think of it this way: Every order, SKU, container, and asset in your network should have a digital twin that’s continuously updated with both its physical state and its context — where it’s headed, what customer demand it’s meant to satisfy, what constraints it’s operating under. These aren’t just static records, they’re living digital entities that understand their role in your broader network.
This is where agentic AI becomes transformative. When both digital twins and AI are native to the same platform, you get AI that can actually reason about complex tradeoffs and a system that can:
With such a system in place, what your team can accomplish fundamentally changes.
Ben Thompson of Stratechery makes a compelling analogy about how organizations should think about their teams and AI deployment, drawing from Keith Rabois’ concept of “barrels and ammunition”. Rabois argues that while most talented people serve as “ammunition,” real organizational velocity comes from having the right “barrels” – those rare individuals who can take ideas from conception to completion and bring others along with them.
This perfectly mirrors what we’re seeing in AI-enabled supply chains. AI systems can serve as incredibly powerful “ammunition” – handling countless routine decisions, processing vast amounts of data, and executing standard operations. But your supply chain leaders and key operators are your “barrels” – they set strategy, manage relationships, handle complex exceptions, and drive innovation. Just as adding more ammunition without barrels doesn’t increase organizational velocity, adding AI without empowering your key people won’t transform your supply chain.
Your planners and operators shouldn’t be spending their days chasing status updates and manually updating spreadsheets. They should be focusing on relationship management, exception handling, and strategic improvements – in other words, being the “barrels” that maximize the impact of your AI “ammunition.”
The next few years will see AI redefine what’s possible in supply chain operations. The leaders who emerge won’t be those who simply bought the latest tools. They’ll be the ones who recognized that true transformation comes from unifying intelligence and visibility into a single, living system that can sense, think, and act in real time.
Start your transformation today with these steps:
Your future competitiveness depends not on having more data or smarter algorithms, but on how seamlessly you can bring them together to drive real-world decisions. The time to begin is now.
Curious to know what supply chain leaders think about using AI? Check out the results of our recent survey, conducted in partnership with YouGov.
