Monday Morning Impact – January 29
Gartner: Half of Supply Chain Organizations Plan to Implement GenAI in Next 12 Months
Half of supply chain leaders plan to implement generative AI (GenAI) in the next 12 months, with an additional 14% already in the implementation stage, according to a survey by Gartner. The survey data also showed that chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) are dedicating 5.8% of their function’s budget, on average, to GenAI.
“CSCOs see GenAI as supportive of their broader digital transformation objectives,” said Noha Tohamy, Distinguished VP analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain Practice. “Many supply chain leaders were already leveraging supply chain technologies and advanced analytics, and it’s clear from this data that the majority also see the value in GenAI to enhance productivity, improve business agility and reduce costs. The challenge for many of these organizations over the next 12 months will be in scaling their pilot projects to broader adoption.”
The survey data showed that the most impactful supply chain use cases for GenAI include areas such as code augmentation, providing more insights into supply chain key performance indicators and staff assistance chatbots.
The survey also showed that supply chain leaders are backing up their implementation plans with significant budget allocations. Supply chain leaders will allocate 5.8% of their budgets to the technology, as well as incremental employee spend to deploy GenAI. Sixty-five percent of respondents said they will hire dedicated staff and experts to help deploy the technology in 2024.
Tohamy also said that the projected budget data shows that supply chain leaders are serious about making progress on GenAI solutions this year and that they also recognize the need for additional resources to successfully move beyond small-scale pilots. “CSCOs may also be factoring in impacts on employee roles required of their staff as they shift to higher value-add activities, while lower-level tasks are increasingly automated,” he added.
Gartner surveyed 127 supply chain leaders in November 2023 on their plans to utilize GenAI within their function for 2024. Nearly two-thirds of respondents plan to, or are already in the process of, implementing the technology, with just 2% of respondents having no plans to do so over the next year.
More information is available in Gartner’s on-demand webinars: How Generative AI Will Impact Business Leaders Plans in 2024 and Get Started on the Generative AI Journey In Your Supply Chain.
Channel Impact®
The survey responses also show that supply chain lags other enterprise functions, like marketing and sales, in adoption. This could present an opportunity for supply chain organizations to be “fast followers” by capitalizing on early learnings and technology investments from other functional partners. The channel can be of assistance in this endeavor.
Accenture Finds Perception Gap Around Work and Generative AI
A new report from Accenture reveals a need for business leaders to look beyond how generative AI affects specific tasks and roles and, instead, start to scale gen AI by redesigning processes across their organizations, as well as how people experience work. It concludes that leaders must commit to learning how AI can be operationalized to deliver higher economic value, drive business growth, and benefit their people. Yet two-thirds of executives say they do not have the technology and change leadership expertise to drive the reinvention needed to fully leverage the transformative power of gen AI.
The report, “Work, workforce, workers: Reinvented in the age of generative AI,” highlights organizations’ conflicting views about how to achieve the promise of gen AI and reveals a critical gap in trust. While 95% of workers see value in working with gen AI, approximately 60% are also concerned about job loss, stress, and burnout.
While almost 60% of workers worry about AI eliminating their jobs, less than one-third of C-suite leaders feel job displacement is a worry for their people. In addition, three-quarters of organizations do not have comprehensive strategies in place that will lead to positive worker outcomes and experiences.
“Success starts with leaders who are willing to learn and lead in new ways, to scale gen AI responsibly, to create value and ensure work improves for everyone,” said Ellyn Shook, chief leadership, and human resources officer at Accenture. “It starts with asking a simple question: are people ‘net better off’ working here? This not only unlocks people’s potential and drives bottom-line growth, but also paves the way for workers feeling comfortable and ready to work with gen AI.”
Just 9% of organizations are “leading” when it comes to their capabilities for reinvention and how they maximize the potential for generative AI to boost the bottom line, while increasing people’s proficiency, and level of comfort, with the technology. Over half of these reinventors are taking action to reshape the workforce by redesigning jobs and roles around gen AI, and three-quarters are actively involving their people to help shape enterprise change efforts. In addition, nearly half (47%) of reinventors are already thinking bigger—recognizing that their processes will require significant change to fully leverage gen AI.
“Our research underscores the need for organizations to have a gen AI reinvention strategy that addresses the full value chain, not just roles and tasks where AI can augment or automate how we already operate,” said Paul Daugherty, chief technology and innovation officer at Accenture. “When we look at scaling AI it needs to be through a holistic lens that reimagines how work is done, how to lead a workforce through that change, and how it can be a better experience for all.”
Nearly all surveyed workers (94%) reported being ready to learn gen AI skills, though just 5% of organizations are providing training at scale.
The research yielded data points from over 7,000 C-suite leaders (CXOs) and 5,000 workers of large organizations (>1 billion USD in annual revenue) headquartered in 19 countries and represented 24 industries.
Channel Impact®
The findings show the gap between workers’ and business leaders’ perceptions of the impact of AI in the workplace. As the future of work continues to evolve, people-centric approaches, including actively engaging employees to understand and act on concerns and build trust, will set leading organizations apart in both performance and culture.
Vodafone and Microsoft Sign 10-year Strategic Partnership on Generative AI, Digital Services and Cloud
Vodafone and Microsoft have announced a 10-year strategic partnership to deliver scaled digital platforms to more than 300 million businesses, public sector organizations, and consumers across Europe and Africa. The companies plan to upgrade Vodafone’s managed IoT connectivity platform, and develop new digital and financial services for businesses.
Vodafone plans to invest $1.5 billion over the next 10 years in cloud and customer-focused AI services developed in conjunction with Microsoft. Additionally, Microsoft will use Vodafone’s fixed and mobile connectivity services. Microsoft also intends to invest in Vodafone’s managed IoT connectivity platform, which is expected to become a separate, standalone business by April.
Channel Impact®
The digital services generated by the new partnership will use generative AI technology to provide a highly personalized and differentiated customer experience across multiple channels.
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