Is AI Just Advanced Analytics, Or Is It Really the Future of Supply Chain?
A recent study shows that companies saw a 0% increase in ROI from investing in AI.
With all the buzz around AI, it's hard to distinguish the hype from real impact–especially when
that hype lacks measurable results.
An August 2025 report from the MIT Media Lab found that 95% of businesses surveyed saw
little to no measurable financial return from AI initiatives. This finding reflects a larger concern
among supply chain leaders: that AI adoption often exceeds its effective implementation.
Despite this finding, AI is continually labeled transformative in supply chain management,
positioned by some as a revolutionary key to success and by others a feared force of disruption.
Beyond the Noise: What is AI?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is often used as a catch-all term for a variety of technologies,
describing a wide range of advanced software and automation. In supply chain, AI includes
software like machine learning, predictive analytics, and automation to enhance operations by
forecasting demand, optimizing routes, and reducing inventory waste.
AI tools are often used to perform the gruntwork of repetitive and time-consuming tasks such as
analyzing large datasets, generating highly accurate predictions as a result. Understandably,
many saw its potential in streamlining business processes and improving efficiency.
Yet even with these capabilities, companies have seen little financial return from AI. The
problem isn’t the technology itself, as many business leaders are discovering the root cause
begins with its implementation.
What the Research Says
AI struggles without proper integration, especially in terms of employee training. According to a
2025 Pluralsight survey, 91% of surveyed C-suite executives and 79% of tech workers pretended
to know more about AI at work than they actually do.
While the pressure to use AI is at an all-time high, employee confidence and ability to use the
tech lags behind–not necessarily at the fault of the employees themselves, McKinsey suggests.
In a 2025 report titled Empowering people to unlock AI’s full potential, McKinsey states that
while employees are willing to learn how to use AI, “The biggest barrier to success is
leadership.”
According to their survey, C-suite leaders vastly underestimate just how much their employees
are using AI tools, estimating that “only 4 percent of employees use gen AI for at least 30
percent of their daily work, when in fact that percentage is three times greater”.
Their employees predict that nearly every worker will be using AI in the future,
even the skeptics. So it isn’t that workers aren’t willing to use AI; in fact, they are already
adopting it faster than leaders can notice.
While employees succeed in using AI to aid in completing daily tasks, the gap
becomes apparent in maturing this usage into human-AI fusion–collaborating and combining
talent with AI capabilities to achieve synergy and outcomes neither could create alone.
It’s a transformation that must be led from the top, Deloitte emphasizes, as they reason that “HR
should implement programs that build AI fluency, tailoring initiatives to employees’ skill levels
and personalizing career paths”. Only leadership integration and employee training can ensure
that AI delivers the value it initially promised.
A Different Approach
While large consultancies continue to make significant investments in AI, boutique firms
discover an emerging yet advantageous position–one from which a leaner structure benefits and
allows for more flexibility and adaptation.
For instance, larger organizations are required to conform to stricter measures and excessive
regulations. As a result, novel implementations and changes struggle to make their way down the
bureaucratic pipeline, and new tech cannot be used as efficiently, proving to be a major
disadvantage.
Boutique consultancies avoid this problem entirely by adapting quicker, developing and
deploying new technological capabilities rapidly compared to large firms, resembling a David
and Goliath type shift in narrative following the AI era.
Continuing to focus on specialized areas, boutique consultancies are closely involved in
execution and relationship-building, and offer a personalized approach to client needs–all
increasingly relevant in an era marked with rapid tech development and uncertainty.
With the opportunity to lead differently, boutique firms can focus on specific, high-value
problems instead of impulsively implementing AI with the intent to stay current. By applying AI
in targeted ways, clients can trust that solutions are built with mindful use, delivering real
business value.
Looking Ahead
Answering the question of whether AI is just advanced analytics or the future of supply chain
depends on the user of the tool.
With AI adoption already widespread, firms will continue to adopt the technology as it evolves
into a fundamental part of supply chain modernization. As AI becomes increasingly
sophisticated, its potential outcomes appear more and more enticing, but its actual value will
ultimately hinge on its strategic execution.
Companies that slow down and focus on implementation will see the greatest benefits, as a
thoughtfully guided tool in the hands of trained employees will yield infinitely better results than
a cutting-edge version hindered by implementation without care.
In this regard, AI can shape the future of supply chain–if we use it correctly.
