Supply Chain Executives are Getting Even More Concerned About AI
Keeping up with technology has always been a concern for supply chain professionals. But the pace at which the use of AI and automation is growing is causing concern. A new Accenture survey, Pulse of Change, shows that heading into 2025, 35% of supply chain executives named AI as their top concern. That figure is a large increase from last year when it was at 23%.
Why the large increase? The survey says that executives are acutely aware of the impact generative AI, in particular, has on the business. And this is good news, since 13% have seen their market share increase by more than 10% as a result of integrating the technology into their operations. And almost three-quarters (73%) saw an increase of between 1% and 10% in market share.
The technology is showing up in factories and supply chains in a number of ways. These include providing virtual agents to managers in plants and warehouses and optimizing fleet routes and inventory.
“Companies are aiming to make manufacturing and supply chain operations more autonomous, so they can react faster to changing demands and disruptions,” said Pascal Brosset, global production and operations lead at Accenture, in a statement.” Digital twins, AI and generative AI are top of mind for industry executives because these technologies are critical enablers of this ambition.
“AI and machine learning give digital twins the ability to model operations across systems, which is critical to optimizing operations end-to-end. Using generative AI, companies can enrich these models with unstructured data and make the resulting operations knowledge easily accessible to plant personnel and engineers. As a result, we’re looking at an accelerated adoption of AI-enabled digital twins as the backbone of autonomous plants and supply chains.”
Investment in AI
Fifty-three percent of organizations plan to significantly increase their investment in AI in 2025, and 42% plan moderate additional investments. More than half (52%) aim to allocate more funds toward generative AI compared to traditional AI, while 33% aim to allocate funds equally between the two.
Furthermore, almost three quarters (72%) of executives said their organization will put more effort into hiring personnel with generative AI experience or skills in 2025, as training existing staff is progressing slowly.
In November 2023, 61% said half or more of the workforce in their organization had been trained on using generative AI. At 63% today, this number has barely changed. To some extent, this seems contradictory to how manufacturing and supply chain executives rate their organization’s training capability. A quarter (24%) are “somewhat confident” their training and upskilling programs match the pace of emerging technologies, and 75% are “confident” or “extremely confident”.
“The shift to AI and generative AI isn’t just about tech, it’s about people,” said Inge Oosterhuis, global talent and organization lead for digital engineering, manufacturing and supply chain at Accenture, in a statement. “As companies prep for 2025, building a future-ready workforce is key. Hiring AI talent matters, but upskilling current teams is just as important to build trust in these systems. Many companies are launching leadership programs, especially since only 41% feel their board has the tech know-how for future decisions.
"Nearly 90% of executives say they need big changes or a complete overhaul of their reskilling strategy, as most still rely on outdated training. Cybersecurity, for example, is a critical area where skills like threat analysis and risk assessment are essential to drive digital innovation responsibly.”
