Despite the disruptive impacts of COVID-19, 47% of organizations plan to increase their investments in the Internet of Things (IoT), according to a recent survey from analyst company Gartner. Following the COVID-19 lockdown, the survey found that 35% of organizations reduced their investments in IoT while a larger number of organizations are planning to invest more in IoT implementations to reduce costs. One reason behind the increase is that while companies have a limited history with IoT, IoT implementers produce a predictable ROI within a specified timeframe. "They use key performance indicators (KPIs) to track their business outcomes and for most of them they also specify a time frame for financial payback of their IoT investments, which is on the average three years," said Benoit Lheureux, research VP at Gartner. In addition, as IoT investments are relatively new, most companies have plenty of "low hanging fruit" cost-saving opportunities to pursue, such as predictive-maintenance on commercial and industrial assets like elevators or turbines, and optimization of processes such as increasing manufacturing yield.

Coupa Software (NASDAQ: COUP), a leader in Business Spend Management (BSM), announced that it has acquired LLamasoft, a leader in AI-powered supply chain design and planning for a purchase price of approximately $1.5 billion. Based in Ann Arbor, Mich., LLamasoft's technology is used by hundreds of enterprise customers, including brands such as Boeing, Danone S.A., Home Depot, and Nestle. The acquisition will strengthen Coupa's supply chain capabilities, enabling businesses to drive greater value through Business Spend Management. The events of this year continue to demonstrate the importance of supply chain agility, as companies work to more rapidly adapt to changing consumer preferences, economic conditions, and the political landscape. With demand uncertainty on one hand and supply volatility on the other, companies are in need of supply chain technology that can help them assess alternatives and balance trade-offs to achieve desired business results.

That's understandable given its potential. AI can offer a huge benefit to supply chain managers, but only if it is based on solid fundamentals that take into account the diverse and dynamic nature of today's modern supply chains. More importantly, it needs to consider the availability of the timely and accurate data needed to make smart decisions. Before addressing what AI can do, it is critical to first understand what it is. In the simplest terms, AI is intelligence exhibited by machines, or when machines mimic or can replace intelligent human behavior, such as problem-solving or learning.

Merril Douglas paints a picture of a time in the near future when robots and humans will work side-by-side to help companies gain speed, increase accuracy, cut costs, and handle the grunt work. E-commerce sales continue to climb, forcing retailers to pick up the pace in their fulfillment and distribution centers," Douglas writes. "But these days, it's hard to find workers to keep product moving in any kind of warehouse e-commerce or otherwise." We're already seeing examples of robots being designed to take over the supply chain's least attractive tasks. "In some cases, robotic systems do this work entirely on their own, freeing humans for more complex functions," Douglas points out. "In other instances, bots collaborate with humans.

Maybe you are doing your demand forecasting completely wrong. To be more precise, there are two equally important outputs of demand forecasting and you may be focusing nearly all your energy on only one, and maybe even the wrong one. And the impact is that you may not be getting the forecast accuracy you want. Or even more important, that you may not be getting the service levels and inventory efficiencies that you need. And if that's true, you are not alone. The number of companies is growing that are saying that their forecast accuracy, service levels and inventory efficiency metrics have hit a ceiling that they just can't get past.

That's understandable given its potential. AI can offer a huge benefit to supply chain managers, but only if it is based on solid fundamentals that take into account the diverse and dynamic nature of today's modern supply chains. More importantly, it needs to consider the availability of the timely and accurate data needed to make smart decisions. Before addressing what AI can do, it is critical to first understand what it is. In the simplest terms, AI is intelligence exhibited by machines, or when machines mimic or can replace intelligent human behavior, such as problem-solving or learning.

In the last decade, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has come roaring out of high-tech labs to become something that people use every day without even realizing it. In addition to powering numerous apps and other digital products, AI stands to benefit all industries, including supply chain and logistics. In fact, lots of companies have already benefited from AI investments. According to the Teradata report, State of Artificial Intelligence for Enterprises, Supply Chain and Operations was one of the top areas where businesses are driving revenue from AI investment. With the volumes of data in supply chains and logistics growing every day, the need for more sophisticated processing solutions is becoming more urgent.

Using Autonomous Robots to Drive Supply Chain Innovation This paper details how new technologies are presenting promising opportunities for improvement across the supply chain and how autonomous robots and drones are poised to change the game. Global Autonomous Inventory Robotics New Product Innovation Award This best practices research paper details the PINC Air inventory robotics solution with its quick deployment model, faster inventory velocity, product ingenuity, and rapid ROI underscoring the decision for PINC to win Frost & Sullivan's 2017 New Product Innovation Award. The Four Forces Driving Supply Chain Innovation When supply chain professionals discuss supply chain execution, their focus is typically put on transportation management systems and warehouse management systems, the yard management systems capability and importance is mistakenly undervalued. The Rise of the Digital Yard In this white paper we explore the rise of the digital yard and show how technology is enabling significant efficiencies, productivity gains, and cost containment in a world where every penny added to the bottom line positively impacts organizational success. Solution Brief: Yard Management System Yards are the intersection between warehouses and transportation, they are a critical linkage in logistics management practices and have a significant impact on the overall efficiency of the supply chain.

Giving rise to a new class of intelligent logistics assets and operational paradigms, DHL and IBM in their joint report "Artificial Intelligence in Logistics" outline how supply chain leaders can take advantage of AI's key benefits and opportunities now that performance, accessibility as well as costs are more favorable than ever before. The collaborative report identifies implications and uses cases of AI for the logistics industry, finding that AI has the potential to significantly augment human capabilities. While AI is already ubiquitous in the consumer realm, as demonstrated by the rapid growth of voice assistant applications, DHL and IBM find that AI technologies are maturing at a great pace, allowing for additional applications for the logistics industry. These can, for instance, help logistics providers enrich customer experiences through conversational engagement and even deliver articles before the customer has even ordered them. "Today's current technology, business, and societal conditions favor a paradigm shift to proactive and predictive logistics operations more than any previous time in history" explains Matthias Heutger, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Innovation DHL.

Acknowledge AI's dual-use nature: AI is a technology capable of immensely positive and immensely negative applications. We should take steps as a community to better evaluate research projects for perversion by malicious actors, and engage with policymakers to understand areas of particular sensitivity. As we write in the paper: "Surveillance tools can be used to catch terrorists or oppress ordinary citizens. Information content filters could be used to bury fake news or manipulate public opinion. Governments and powerful private actors will have access to many of these AI tools and could use them for public good or harm."