Predicting tomorrow's supply chain problems with today's AI

How will AI transform supply chains? That's the question I recently posed at Genpact AI Day in New York. When you look at supply chains holistically across plan, source, make, deliver, and aftersales, the opportunities to apply AI to improve supply chain value are vast – opportunities that should be seized as soon as possible as geopolitical turmoil, trade tensions, and the impact of climate change still test supply chain resilience.

Some companies have a head start. They're already using AI to enhance supply chain accuracy and efficiency and are seeing impressive results. But this shift isn't just about adding a new technology; it's about creating real, tangible value. So, where do you begin?

To harness the full potential of AI in supply chains, you must focus on three critical components:

1. Lead with business value: AI initiatives should be driven by clear business objectives. Identify areas where AI can deliver the most impact and align these with strategic goals
2. Mobilize frictionless operations: Streamlining processes is nonnegotiable. AI can help resolve bottlenecks and inefficiencies, leading to on-time, in-full deliveries
3. Prioritize customer and user experiences: AI can provide personalized solutions and elevate service levels for improved satisfaction and loyalty

Genpact's scalable AI solutions are already delivering business value across industries. In logistics, AI is optimizing routes and reducing delivery times, while in healthcare, it's improving patient outcomes and reducing costs. These applications demonstrate the versatility and power of AI. Here are three practical examples of our work with supply chains.

A consumer goods sales and marketing services firm wanted to modernize its order-to-cash operations, changing both its operating model and upgrading its underlying technology foundation.

Our AI experts helped the company migrate from a legacy platform to an intelligent order management backbone powered by Salesforce – a cloud-based customer relationship management software solution. They also deployed three autonomous AI agents (copilots) that help classify customer requests, remember prior interactions, and suggest the next-best action to customer service agents to reduce manual effort. We've seen a drop in response times of 60%–70%, enabling customer service agents to become customer success problem solvers.

One of our global medtech clients recognized the urgency of balancing expectations for instrument uptime and patient safety with the cost of delivering swift and effective customer support. Traditional methods often involve time-consuming and costly on-site visits by field service engineers.

This was the perfect opportunity to embed Genpact's NextGen support – aftersales services support powered by ChatGPT. This solution enhances issue identification and resolution by leveraging vast amounts of technical information from product documents. And it provides tailored answers to customer queries in multiple languages. So far, the solution has improved dispatch avoidance by 20%, increased instrument uptime by 10%, and achieved productivity gains of up to 25%.

AI is not just a tool; it is a transformative force. As the technology continues to evolve, you can expect even greater advancements in automation, predictive analytics, and decision-making capabilities. Businesses that focus on scaling AI will be well-poised to lead, driving growth and value. According to our study with HFS, the next two years are critical for realizing gen AI's potential. So don't shy away from making your next big AI bet – one that will rewrite your company's growth story.