DSCInsights in Action: How AI is Driving Change in Supply Chain Skills and Talent

Duration: 8:50 1433 transcript words EN summary

Video summary

The video explores the critical gap between rapid investments in artificial intelligence (AI) technology and the slower development of the workforce skills required to utilize it effectively within supply chains. While many organizations are eager to automate processes, experts argue that viewing AI solely as a technological initiative overlooks the essential human element. The discussion highlights that successful transformation requires a dual strategy involving both technological advancement and deliberate workforce design, which demands significant time, effort, and cross-functional collaboration to adjust teams for new realities. Without balancing these two sides of the equation, companies risk implementing powerful tools without the necessary talent to operate them, leading to suboptimal outcomes. As AI advances, it fundamentally alters managerial roles, particularly for middle management, shifting their focus from routine reporting and coordination to high-level judgment and exception handling. The transcript explains that while repetitive tasks are automated, the core content of jobs remains, but the nature of decision-making evolves; managers must now override agent decisions, handle anomalies, and build trust in AI systems. Consequently, successful leaders in human-AI teams will be distinguished by three key skills: accountability for final decisions, the ability to manage exceptional situations that algorithms cannot resolve, and the capacity to collaborate seamlessly with autonomous agents. This evolution necessitates a rethinking of early career development programs to ensure that entry-level employees are prepared for roles that increasingly require these advanced cognitive abilities rather than just basic operational tasks. The conversation also addresses the significant risk that AI adoption poses to gender diversity in supply chains, noting that women are heavily concentrated in the lower-level roles most susceptible to automation while underrepresented in leadership positions. To prevent reinforcing existing talent gaps and ensure a balanced workforce, organizations must prioritize reskilling current employees over hiring new ones, as external talent is currently too expensive and scarce. Practical examples from companies like Amazon and DACI illustrate how early enablement programs can effectively upskill staff for new AI-driven environments. Supply chain leaders are urged to take four specific actions: assess the unique impact of AI on their organization, redesign roles and structures accordingly, build capabilities at all levels from analysts to executives, and foster a company culture that embraces AI as an opportunity rather than a threat. In conclusion, the episode emphasizes that the future of supply chain talent lies in creating a synergy between human judgment and artificial intelligence, ensuring that technology expands opportunities rather than limiting them. The expert advises leaders to actively cultivate an environment where employees understand the potential of AI, thereby reducing anxiety and encouraging adoption. By focusing on reskilling, restructuring roles for judgment-based tasks, and building a supportive culture, organizations can navigate this transformation successfully. The discussion ends with a commitment to continue researching practical implementations throughout the year, aiming to share real-world learnings on what works and what does not as companies integrate AI into their operations by 2027.

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Welcome to this episode of Digital Supply Chain Institute insights in action. As we promised, we will keep on exploring the topic of AI which has been a hot topic in many industries but with the only focus related to supply chain transformation. We do see a lot of traction in this area and in in today's episodes and episodes coming we will try also to tackle different touch points and segments of supply chain where we have practical insights and inputs that we can share with you either from the experts like we have DS with us today who have been researching in the segmented the area or practitioners who have been building up the segments of the supply chain transformation within their operations. So today we'll focus on the AI and actually talent an area where DS and Sarah have been doing research for last two months and actually having very interesting findings about where the industry is going and what's actually happening. So DS welcome and thank you for being with us. >> Thank you for inviting me Marco. So in your article DS uh you point out that many organizations are investing in AI faster than they are developing actually the talent needed to use it effectively right so why do you think that leaders continue to view uh AI primarily as a technology initiative and what are the risks of overlooking actually the workforce that side of equation is super important and it doesn't work one without another >> it's a great question Marco as you see everyone is rushing towards technology investment. You know, large companies, small companies, everybody's trying to automate, you know, trying to look at the processes before them to automate. You know, it's very easy because there's a budget, you know, there's somebody to give a clearance and then you order the technology and you have it in this. But most important aspect according to my research is that you know workforce design or workforce uh what do you call the reinforcement is also an important strategy along with technology advancement because any workforce design takes a lot of time effort. It requires cross cross functional organizational help to modify and adjust the workforce for the new changes. So that brings me to the next question actually is one of the most interesting points in the article is that the AI may transform the managerial roles. People think that it will be only like you know the repetitive tasks but actually it will affect the managerial segment. So how do you see the role of mid managers evolving over the next 5 years and what new skills will distinguish a successful leaders in of human AI teams because I think it brings us more towards the orchestration now and it's not will it be only technology or or human there will be a synergy in between the two so how do you see it >> thank you for this question currently middle management is more focused on reporting and then coordination and to some extent some information processing saying these are all being automated by AI. It's not that the job is moving, content is there but the middle managers have a new role to play. It's built around judgment. For example, exceptional handling are taking decisions or overriding some decisions for you know agents. There are some of the examples where a middle management will have to be playing a greater role and they need to be trained on these skills. Actually if you come to the skills part of it as a middle manager three things stand out. One is the accountability second is the you know exception handling third is the trust where he need to build a trust and learn to work along with a agents moving forward. So that brings me that you you gave a gave a great introduction for understanding now how increasingly increasing automation will actually and and AI will actually affect the entry-level positions because if entry-level tasks are done by technologies now how should organizations rethink early career development programs because nobody joins a company you know to stay at the same level especially not at the entry level so uh how they can ensure they are still building the next generation of supply chain leaders. >> Yeah, it's another great question from you Marco. You know if you look at traditionally as you rightly pointed out that you know lower level jobs are being automated there is a fulfillment preparation dispatch or tracking the consignment etc. And also women are the most of the our research says that women are concentrated in this area while some statistics say that no 40% of women are in supply chain only 31% are in the leadership space. So given that scenario how do we re how do you balance how do you adjust this uh render gender ratios. So to do that early enablement programs are very important for an organization is always as you're familiar reskilling the existing staff is much easier and economical than hiring external staff. Currently the talent is at very premium so it becomes unaffordable for this. So the focus of the supply chain manager needs to be on how to reskill, how to improve the current uh talent to get into the new area of working. For example, you know, trailblazers of DACI and there are other organization which is doing a similar type of a program. So these are the good examples of how early enablement is happening and also organizations like Amazon are spending huge amount of money to you know reskill this existing stuff. >> Thank you very much DS and let's close up our conversation with one thing which you mentioned. You mentioned that you know you see a certain risk of having women in supply chain with the changes which we are seeing with AI because you know that segment started evolving and now the technology is coming in. For sure there are ways to resolve and absorb and what specific actions should supply chain leaders take today to ensure that actually AI adoption expands the opportunity rather than reinforces existing talent gaps. >> It's a very another interesting question from you Marco. I see there are four clear actions a supply chain manager do. One assess the impact of AI in this organization because it varies from organizations to organizations. the requirement of AI and the current workforce design and then make adjustments and redesign the structure and the roles needed for this function. That's the first step. Second step is build capabilities at different levels whether it is a analyst level or the middle manager level or the senior level. Number three one has to be we talked about middle managers already how to build this strength of middle managers how to make them understand the new skills required. We already talked about uh judgment skills, exceptional handling and uh working with the agents at the same time. And fourth is to build a culture of AI in the company. Everybody needs to understand what AI can bring to the table rather than having the anxiety of look AI will replace me or something like that. So these are four steps are I think are very important for you know adapting the AI in the organizations. >> David thank you very much. I think all these insights have been very practical, very valuable. I know that you will be continuing the research in this area, especially about what companies are executing and doing by the end of this year. Definitely a talent segment in today's evolution of technology is very important no matter of the industry especially in supply chain. So I look forward uh reconnecting back with you once the research evolves into sides of what practically have has been tried and how did it work or how it did not work and what were the learnings. So once again congratulations to you and your team for uh moving this agenda forward and I look forward uh connecting beginning of 2027 to see what was actually happening with the implementation. >> Thank you very much Marco. Thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. She good day. >> Thank you. Thank you Ravida. This was Ravida Shataram, expert of digital supply chain institute in the area of AI and talent. This was another episode and we thank you for following us and uh stay tuned for the next one.