The increased complexity of supply chains has made traditional, cyclical, and largely siloed approaches to supply chain planning ineffective. In a world of perpetual change where customer demands continually rise, talent is scarce, and the pace of change keeps accelerating, traditional planning processes that rely on a monthly cadence using aging data are not capable of handling the complexity of shorter-term business changes or steering quality decisions in time to make a meaningful impact.
Those conditions are a driving force behind a shift in supply chain decision-making called decision intelligence. Decision intelligence is all about re-engineering supply chain decisions so they can be made with the full context of the impact of that decision in mind. These decisions are no longer generic, loosely tied to an objective. The information used to drive decision-making is hyper-contextualized, so the results are now much more relevant and in context.
Decision intelligence is powered by enabling technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, collaboration, and knowledge graphs to help inform and shape the steps of decision-making. Today, organizations are leveraging these advanced technologies to adapt to the ever-changing landscape, and handle increased levels of complexity, as effective decision- making keeps getting more difficult.
In the Atlas Planning Platform by John Galt Solutions, our Expert Systems—think of these as algorithmic agents— support data-driven decision-making by creating a real-time feedback loop, continuously monitoring, sensing, resolving, acting, and learning over time. So, planning decisions are continuously made, revisited, and revised based on changing business conditions.
That keeps planning in close alignment with reality, with what’s actually happening in the marketplace while aligning to corporate goals. Now, the organization can make and analyze trade-offs at the right time, based on the right data. With technology doing most of the grunt work and working at a scale that exceeds human capability, decision intelligence works side by side with people to arrive at the best course of action.
Realizing Significant Benefits
The application of decision intelligence can deliver serious payoffs. Deloitte found companies that have an enterprise-wide strategy around these capabilities achieve:
- An average cost reduction of 22% over three years
- An average increase in revenue of 11% over the next three years
- An average 27% reduction in costs
These cost savings come from applying decision intelligence to use cases such as eliminating excess inventory, smart sourcing, and automating PO coverage, while revenue increases stem from benefits such as preventing stock-outs or back-orders, automating supply vs. demand balancing and being more pro-active with logistics orchestration.
The Role of Decision Intelligence in the Future of Supply Chain Planning
Decision intelligence is not only a powerful practice for re-engineering supply chain decision-making. It’s also one component of a significant shift that’s starting to take place in how organizations approach supply chain planning. The white paper: The Future of Supply Chain Planning: Going Beyond AI explores decision intelligence as one of four pillars representing this shift in mindset. Together with the other pillars of this new approach - process orchestration, data visibility and embracing uncertainty—the future of supply chain planning is designed to help organizations succeed amidst increasing challenges, unpredictability and risk.
By beginning to introduce decision intelligence into your supply chain decision-making, you both improve the quality and pace of decision-making and lay the critical groundwork to adopt next-gen supply chain planning paradigms.
Decision intelligence is a core and continually evolving component of John Galt Solutions’ Atlas Planning Platform, enabling you to start, evolve, and accelerate your use of relevant, context-aware decision-making to transform and improve your supply chain planning strategy. Check out this link to learn more.
