A new finding from Cambridge-based Artificial Intelligence Start-up and Decisions company, Secondmind, has found that 82% of supply chain managers (86% in the UK) have been left frustrated by the limitations of tools used for AI-powered decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The research surveyed supply chain managers across Europe and the US, and found that despite the frustration, belief in AI’s potential is strong. 90% agree that AI-powered tools and software will help them make better decisions by 2025, and 59% strongly agree that AI will transform supply chains for the better in the next five years.
The blockers to fulfilling AI’s potential
One of the current problems is that AI and human decision-making are still not being combined effectively enough to help supply chain managers make the best day-to-day decisions. The majority of managers who use AI systems want their domain expertise to factor into the decision-making process with 47% wanting AI to learn from humans when historic data is unreliable. The other issue is a lack of understanding. 34% of respondents said their leadership teams lack an understanding of what is currently needed on the ground to make faster, data-driven decisions. Rigid processes and internal structures prevented 41% of planners and managers from responding to changing market conditions quickly.
A longer road to resilience
The supply chain planners and managers that were surveyed believe that a third of their time (on average 2. 83 hours daily[1][3]) is spent on manual tasks that could easily be automated. As frustrations with current AI systems emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, 50%[4] said they spent significantly more time manually analysing and interpreting data to assist strategic and operational decisions.
The decision-makers that were surveyed stated that these data pain points are holding them back from working on higher-value initiatives that could contribute towards building more resilient supply chains, such as:
- Proactively preparing scenarios and plans for future unexpected ‘black swan’ events (30%)
- Spending more time on proactive and in-depth planning for major events such as Christmas and Black Friday (41%)
- Conducting more in-depth analysis, using their experience and expertise (51%)
The power of human & AI collaboration
The majority of managers who use AI systems want their domain expertise to factor into the decision-making process. Desirable capabilities for AI systems included: the ability to modify AI-generated forecasts using the decision-maker’s own judgement (53%); AI that can learn from humans when historic data is unreliable (47%); and AI that could show what data or contextual information that impacted a forecast (39%).
Of those who believed AI alone was not enough to inform effective decision-making, the reasons cited were that human intuition cannot be replicated by a machine (62%); there will always be some events that a machine can’t predict (59%); and expertise developed from years on the job is critical in decision-making (51%).
Vishal Chatrath, CEO and Co-Founder, Secondmind comments: “COVID-19 has been a wake-up call for businesses operating in global supply chains as they prepare to rapidly accelerate the implementation and deployment of AI in the coming years. For AI to realize its potential, it will be critical for organisations to deploy systems that can cope with sparse or incomplete data environments and promote the effective collaboration between people and AI. Our report shows how much people benefit from AI, but also how much AI needs people. A collaborative approach to decision-making that combines the right skills and capabilities for each task is essential, particularly when systems are disrupted during uncertain times and unpredictable events.”
[3] Average excludes the 0.4% who said ‘I don’t know’ in response to the question ‘How much of your time in an average day, if any at all, do you think you spend on manual tasks which could be completed more effectively and speedily if they were automated?’
[4] Respondents were those who said they have had frustrations around AI-powered decision-making due to the outbreak of the COVID-19.
About Secondmind
Founded in 2016 with a mission to empower people in business to make better decisions, Secondmind – The Decisions Company, is underpinned by years of award-winning, practical artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) research, performed by a team of world-class researchers, data scientists and ML engineers. Secondmind closes the gap between people and AI, and supercharges decision-making with the Secondmind Decision Engine, an intuitive and insightful software platform that helps people in industries from supply chain to automotive predict, plan, influence outcomes, manage risk, and make complex decisions with ease and confidence. Secondmind is backed by leading venture funds including Amadeus Capital, Atlantic Bridge, and Cambridge Innovation Capital, among others.
