Supply Chain to Become the Voice of AI in 2024
A recent analysis of 100 consumer-facing brands shows that 20% of CEOs mentioned artificial intelligence in the press in 2023. As the hype around AI turns into tangible results for early adopters, we expect to see a rise in these mentions, as well as for CSCOs to take ownership of AI within their organizations.
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20% of CEOs in our data set of 100 consumer-facing brands have publicly shared their thoughts on AI as it relates to their business, yet only 10% of these CEOs reference AI in relation to supply chain.
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Of the CEOs mentioning AI, 40% focus on generative AI, showing it to be the leading theme. In contrast, at the moment, only 20% of responses show a focus on taking responsibility of AI and related ethics.
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With implementation opportunities across the supply chain loop and tangible results for early adopters of AI, Zero100 expects more CEOs to be talking about AI and more CSCOs to take the lead on it within their organizations in 2024.
When analyzing comments from leaders, we were able to note:
- that AI is a main priority,
- which supply chain functions are particularly primed for AI experimentation, and
- that no one industry holds the microphone – CEOs speaking about AI span auto, retail, apparel, health, tech, and F&B industries.
So, as AI adoption matures, where does ownership and responsibility lie? In 2024, we believe supply chain will become the voice of AI. Zero100 captured over 350 AI use cases within supply chain from 2019 to the present, showing ample opportunities for investment. We expect CEO mentions of AI in relation to supply chain to rise significantly as CSCOs and their teams capitalize on opportunities and take ownership of AI in 2024.
Although some leaders or teams may still be cautious to expound on their AI strategy, companies like Alibaba and Inditex are all in:
- “Looking forward, Alibaba’s two main strategic focuses will be ‘User First’ and ‘AI-driven.’ We will recalibrate our operations around these two core strategies and reshape our business priorities” - Eddie Wu, CEO, Alibaba
- "AI is a great opportunity for improvement, we are working very actively on it, encouraging our teams to get used to development projects and initiatives…” - Óscar Garcia Maceiras, CEO, Inditex
While 20% of CEOs are discussing AI publicly, only 2% of our data set of 100 have detailed their efforts within a specific area of supply chain. While we expect this to grow as leaders continue to capitalize on digitization opportunities in their operations, Estée Lauder is one company that’s already seen end-to-end value in 2023:
- “We believe we can unlock meaningful cost efficiencies in our value chain as we complete the rollout and adoption of our new integrated business planning process across the global operation and use generative AI to drive efficiencies” - Fabrizio Freda, CEO, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
Our report, Regenerative Business Planning, supports Fabrizio’s statement. Our proprietary data and insights show that, compared to any other investment, AI-enabled planning leads to higher revenue growth (specifically, 3x more). The risk of falling behind is too costly.
To accelerate your AI journey, we recommend first identifying the AI/ML opportunities across your supply loop and assessing the maturity of your current capability as well as potential implementation. This builds a landscape of possibilities, revealing the potential of your supply chain. It’s easier, then, to more clearly nail down an AI strategy, specifying what technology you are investing in, across which functions, and why. Then, your teams can focus on the AI implementations that will provide the most tangible impact, starting from pilots and growing to scale. As is suggested by our vast and growing AI use case library, the opportunities to experiment, implement, and optimize operations using AI are abundant across supply chain. It's time for supply chain leaders to take ownership of AI.
If you would like help in evaluating or building your roadmap, we have launched a new AI blueprint tool for members. Please email hello@zero100.com for more information.
Methodology
Zero100’s proprietary data and analytics are a combined effort between our data scientists and research analysts. We provide data-first insights matched with our own research-backed points of view and bring this analysis to life via real-world case examples being led by supply chain practitioners today.
The data in this report analyzes 100 leading B2C brands and publicly available press.