Okay, okay, honestly, when you hear the term supply chain management, does it put in your heart excited somewhere? Many people picture only trucks, warehouses, and an infinite number of tables. But I’m happy to report, these days, the supply chain world is getting that long overdue glow up. Where once it was about moving things from one place to another, it’s now about doing it smarter, or quicker. And the magic behind all this? AI business automation.

So, let’s take another closer look at this tech marvel and examine how it is an end of supply chain nightmares and the beginning of efficient supply chain.

Could Old-School Supply Chain be a Drama?

Think back to the pre-tech days: warehouse managers going around with clipboards in a hurry overwhelmed by delayed shipments and last-minute changes. Overall, many of the deliveries arrived at the wrong time, recorded stock was incorrect, and customers were not exactly satisfied. The whole thing was all very much like attempting the art of balancing on one wheel and simultaneously catching the balls; cluttered and tiring.

Come today, it seems a little bit different; or so they do in rapid progression from the nineteenth to earlier part of the twentieth century. While ten years ago those same managers would have cringed at having to learn about business processes, with AI business automation, those same managers now have a secret weapon. Instead of intuition and disorganization, they have stats, algorithms, and smart technologies that take care of everything in their stead. This is the same as substituting that one unicycle with a self-driving car, don’t you think?

Well, what exactly is AI Business Automation actually doing?

This for me is about coming up with a picture, so let me paint a picture for you. Picture a warehouse with no human directives; it is a warehouse in which robots control operational processes. Specifically, AI dictates to them which products to take, where to go to get to the packing station faster and how to conserve energy while at it. The fact is that it looks like a wonderful dance, but you have machines performing the dance and they don’t even need their coffee breaks.

Next, there’s predictive analytics. Not to sound fancy, but I think this is the AI way of telling someone, “I feel the future.”

It is able to forecast the needs of a business before a consumer even begins to show an interest in the products. Have you ever thought about the fact that in 2020 people buying a dozen of toilet papers at once became a trend? Business firms which had AI on their side were a step forward, having replenished all the shelves before clients recognized that there were out of stock.

Humans and Machines: A Power Duo

Here’s the thing AI isn’t synonymous with removing all humans from the process altogether. It is all about easing their lives. While consumers receive brighter communication devices to arrange the quickest paths, drivers get smarter navigation tools to identify such routes. To ensure that the ideal plan is not altered, planners receive real-time updates, which they don’t receive when things begin to go wrong. And managers? It’s just nice to finally get the chance to look up the long-term views rather than constantly battle with fires all day.

For instance, when the pandemic raised hell with shipping schedules and everybody developed grey hairs over logistics, companies employing AI business automation quitted thinking jurisdictionally and looked for ways of re-routing the consignments. It’s like having a highly knowledgeable assistant who already knows what you are going to say next.

The Real Winners: You and Me

Of course, the best part of this innovation is how it can help us- the common people. Products reach the consumer in the shortest time, and are likely to be fresher, and possibly cheaper. If it is a new gadget, you’ve been patiently waiting for that finally arrived way ahead of time, or the fact that your supermarkets are fully stocked, blame it on improved supply chains.

The Future is Bright

Here’s the exciting part: this is just the beginning. Beginning from drone delivery of packages right at your doorstep, to blockchain keeping every detail of the process in publicly accessible records, the supply chain is just going to get cooler. However, if there’s one type of business automation that’s behind all of these advances, it is the use of artificial intelligence.

Which brings us to the next package delivery miracle so next time they beat all expectations and get your package delivered before the schedule, just know it’s not really a magic trick. It is technology benevolently operating in the background to help make all of our lives less complicated. How awesome is that?