Running any business today requires plenty of time spent on detailed planning and organization. Of course, accessibility is something that makes everything more open and available to much more people, but it also means that as a business owner, you need to go an extra mile in order to stay competitive in this modern way of doing business.
Now, technology advances so fast, and lately, the main hype is over AI. Yes, we all know about this technology, at least the basics, and even though it all started way back, in the 1950s when the first AI program was written, all those discoveries needed to wait for the technology to catch up. Today, the tech has caught up with it, and that’s the main reason why we have new discoveries almost on a daily basis.
The usage and importance of AI technology
The whole meaning of this technology is to enrich software with human capabilities, meaning that it will have reasoning, understanding, and perception, which leads to much better overall productivity and efficiency and at lower costs. Now, knowing all this, it’s needless to say that AI will have a tremendous impact on the management and success of any company.
As for the usage, certain industries are still hesitant to implement it due to possible high costs, but what’s important in any business is the end result, and by adding this tech, that result will be much better, meaning that it is only a matter of time before AI becomes an irreplaceable component of every company. Today, the best examples of AI usage can be seen in supply chain management, and if you wonder how, let’s look at the facts.
It helps us have a much better insight into the whole process
The modern way of running a business is all about every single part of that complex operation running as smoothly as possible, and that’s what supply chain management is all about, as it is a crucial part of every company. It was pretty challenging to have the full visibility of the supply chain because it meant that we needed to monitor many different systems at the same time.
AI can help us a lot with this problem because implementing it into the supply chain allows us to monitor various systems from the whole chain and get the information in real-time, which is pretty useful. In that way, we have the complete visibility of this complex network without too much effort and spending too much time on it, and we use the real-time information instead of the old ones that can be usually repeated. AI can be pretty useful when it is necessary to react fast and make some important decisions because all the decisions we make need to be informed, and it is impossible if we do not have real-time information. Making the right decision, in most cases, means a huge difference between a job well done and many problems, which is the main reason to allow the employees to have all the necessary data they need.
Goods management
Waiting is perhaps the most unwanted and most hated thing, as we are all in a constant run and don’t have time to spare on waiting. Of course, this gets even more emphasized when talking about not having certain goods in your stock because you miscalculated how great the demand will be, and this is where AI swoops in as it can also be of great help regarding stock-out issues.
Namely, it’s pretty difficult to predict how much of certain goods you will need as it all depends on the demand, but this technology can foresee that by checking the records, customers buying habits, and the overall progress (reaching more people), calculate it and provide fast results regarding this question.
AI can make decisions
One of the biggest benefits that AI can provide us is smart decision-making, and it has its role in supply chain management too because it makes the whole process much simpler for the employees. This software has the possibility of constant learning and improving all the time, which helps it make some crucial decisions much faster than human employees who can use too much time in thinking and considering the best possible solution.
While humans use logic and previous experiences, AI can use cognitive predictions together with recommendations on optimal actions, which requires far less time. Sometimes humans can be afraid of making a mistake, which usually results in making one, and we do not have that problem with AI. Besides quick and smart decisions that AI can make, another great benefit is the fact that it can show us many different possible scenarios, so we can see the outcomes and choose the best solution.
Easier planning
AI allows us to see many different scenarios, and it can help us choose the best possible one for a certain situation with its predictional power. It was more difficult before the implementation of AI into chain supply management because we were not able to see all possible scenarios. It could be possible only if we have vast experience with many of them, which is impossible since there are no two identical situations and solutions.
AI can predict the outcome of every situation, and the great thing is that it can easily calculate the new outcome if some parameter changes, which can help us find a new solution in a few seconds. Because of that, changing plans is not a scary thing, and it will not change a lot for us since it will be solved in a few minutes without too much effort.
To Summarize
Supply chain management is the essence of every business, and as such, the better the management, the higher the productivity and, of course, profits. It’s all about procurement, and the benefits of artificial intelligence software here can be of great help. It doesn’t matter if we talk about E-planning, E-analytics, supplier relationship, or some other module, as the AI can enhance them all, and if you don’t believe us, just consult the experts in this field like Softengi.
