AI is making Supply Chain insight cheaper—but decision latency remains the bottleneck
Fast Company argues that AI is accelerating insight generation while many organizations still rely on monthly S&OP cycles and fragmented decision workflows.
James Barlow argues that AI is increasing the volume and speed of Supply Chain insights while many organizations still make cross-functional decisions through monthly S&OP cycles, slide decks and workflows disconnected from the systems where signals first appear.
The article distinguishes an insight from a decision. An insight identifies a signal, exception or mismatch; a decision requires a cross-functional commitment, evaluated trade-offs, an owner and a timeline. Barlow highlights three shifts: from reactive planning toward proactive simulation, from monthly alignment toward more continuous decision cycles, and from reporting dashboards toward workflows that support and capture decisions.
The article also explains why more AI-generated insight can slow an organization down: fragmented planning data, cross-functional ownership, analysis paralysis and decisions ultimately made outside the system producing the signal.