Although more than 80% of organizations say that they're planning to apply some form of artificial intelligence to their supply chain operations, many firms have lagged behind in adoption.

According to a survey of supply chain leaders released by technology intelligence firm ABI Research on October 7, businesses are looking to integrate AI into a range of tasks, including demand forecasting, inventory management and network design. But despite ambitious plans to push forward on implementation, the promise of improved, AI-generated predictive and prescriptive analysis remains out of reach for more than half of respondents.

“Agentic AI systems are beginning to deliver more predictive insights, but usage remains in the early stages,” ABI senior analyst Ryan Wiggin said, adding that while enthusiasm for AI in supply chain management is widespread, the gap between ambition and readiness remains significant.

In order to facilitate implementation of the technology, supply chain leaders are increasingly focused on moving their systems to the cloud, as a means of more cheaply and efficiently managing the large volumes of data and computing power that AI applications require. Two-thirds of respondents said that they are either implementing or have fully deployed public cloud infrastructure to support supply chain applications, while 60% are in the proof-of-concept stage for moving to a private cloud.

Ultimately, closing the gap between intention and preparedness with AI will come down to how well companies manage their data, and adapt tools to fit their day-to-day operations. Newer AI systems are also beginning to show potential for deeper insights, but most organizations have more work to do before those tools can deliver real results across their supply chains, ABI concluded.