Just 23% of Supply Chain Organizations Have Formal AI Strategy: Gartner

Just 23% of supply chain leaders report having a formal supply chain AI strategy in place within their organizations, according to a survey from Gartner, Inc.

"CSCOs feel pressure to achieve short-term ROI from their AI investments, but they must ensure these quick wins don't create future constraints,” says Benjamin Jury, senior principal, research in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice. "Without a structured approach, organizations risk creating inefficient systems that struggle to scale and adapt to evolving business demands."

Key takeaways:

·        An analysis of the survey data revealed multiple disconnects between AI expectations and reality within the supply chain function.

Gartner

·        Prominent among these disconnects was supply chain AI investment strategy, with most CSCOs focused on “project-by-project” short-term wins rather than a defined AI investment strategy that ensures adequate funding to long-term, transformational investments.

·        Additional survey data revealed that supply chain leaders overwhelmingly use bottom-line metrics such as efficiency, decision-making speed, and cost to gauge the success of their AI investments, ranking these factors far ahead of measures such as increasing revenue and innovation. This suggests that CSCOs currently see AI primarily as an efficiency and cost-savings tool, rather than a truly transformative technology that can drive innovation and new business models.