Gartner Supply Chain Symposium Xpo 2024 -confirmed my idea that AI is really like a teenager

For my very first visit to the Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo, I will not lie: I was met with a lot of resentment from my family; for many weeks when they heard that I was going to Disney World without them, and then I did. It was hard not to miss my family when I walked through the Swan to the Dolphin Hotel and saw the lake shared with the Disney Yacht Club for my kids’ first Disney trip (it was my very first Disney trip too).

At the Gartner conference, I felt like I did on my first Disney trip: excitement, intrigue, a dash of skepticism, and a little overwhelmed.  I wish I had found a way to clone myself to see it all, but alas, I had to do my best.  Like our first Disney trip, I also had to hightail it across the two enormous hotels to get to sessions I needed to see.  When I left, just like at Disney, I couldn’t do it all because there was just so much. I was appreciative of the recorded sessions and the document downloads so I could go back and view what I missed.

I had quite a few missions planned for this conference: learn about the latest supply chain trends, better understand the current ESG landscape in the US, and connect with customers, prospects, partners, analysts, and even some extended family.  Finally, like so many other attendees, my top priority was to learn more about AI in the supply chain.

AI has taken the lead for everything right now, so much so, I’ve created my own AI strategy.  Like many, I can’t get enough of it, but it’s both exciting and scary.  Even prepping to go to this conference, I was swamped with work and home life and coming off of a few weeks of travel stacked on top of each other, so there was no time to get a much-needed professional headshot, so I tried to use an AI app for my Gartner profile pic.  Of the 50 picture options that made me wish I could AI myself in the real world and regain my youth, I could barely find one that resembled me, an AI hallucination perhaps. Even when I tried to change my LinkedIn profile pic, it wouldn’t accept the AI photos at first.  I thought I’d still try to experiment with some of the pics, would anyone even recognize me from my profile pic in real life?  Was this me being AI-powered or instead AI-hyped? Maybe I’ll try it again for a picture that looks like me or find time to head to a real-life studio. 

At the conference, with my family on my mind, I couldn't help but think that AI is like my teenager; I brought him into the world, nurtured him, schooled him, and tried my best to teach him everything, and now he’s turning 16 and wants the keys to the car to drive to a party at a friend’s house. It’s emotional, exciting, and terrifying all at the same time. While I already use AI daily in my life, it’s really been in the learner’s permit stage.  Taking it further into the supply chain is kind of like giving it that license to drive everywhere! 

Luckily, I found many of the Gartner sessions both realistic and enlightening regarding AI.  My overall impression was that the experts and the early adopters had the same thoughts on AI as I did, without directly calling it a teenager.

We are at the top of the hype cycle for AI, and the pressure to move forward is palpable.  Yet, we are all still in the early stages of the emergence for the supply chain.  Gartner stressed that AI is expected to develop faster than any technology so far. Based on my life experience, I find that to be incredibly accurate.  The experts also expressed organizations should further develop their AI strategy.  While there was a push to explore and pilot, the advice was not to just run out and implement a bunch of new AI solutions willy-nilly into the supply chain just to check the AI box.  Instead, to really establish those guidelines, find the right partners and team for your AI journey, and start to look at piloting solutions and programs. 

It’s critical not to believe all the hype, right? Like with any digital transformation project, AI will be a journey, though like a journey on an automotive test track with that teenager driving, pushing extremes that will garner some recalibrations and reworking. Also, much like having a child, AI is going to be expensive, and it’s going to require ongoing support and maintenance every step of the way.

Just like you can’t throw a teenager into any situation because they are old enough to drive, you also can’t expect them to fix your car because they are new.  AI is not a magic solution that will solve everything.  It will be a disaster if you don’t have clear processes in place or structured data in your organization. Get your organization ready for AI, then start small. 

It’s imperative on your AI journey to put on your parenting thinking cap when it comes to AI, with continual education, flexibility, adaptability, and agility. You should have your safeguards in place and your backup plans, but you should still know there will be more unknowns involved.

Just like raising kids, find your partner, village, experts, and allies. Ask a lot of questions about AI, just like you would with your teenager:

·            How do you create a strategy?

·            What are your definitions of AI?

·            What is going to be involved?

·            Who is coming with?

·            Where does it belong? 

·            How do you use it? 

·            How long will it last?

·            Is it adaptable/scalable/flexible?

·            Where is the data coming from?

·            How do we know the data is valid?

·            Is the data structured?

·            Who owns the data? 

·            How do you maintain it?

·            How do we monitor it?

·            What are the risks?

·            How do we keep everything safe?  

·            What is the plan in a crisis?

·            Who is responsible when something goes wrong?

·            What’s it all going to cost?

One last thing about AI in the supply chain is that it needs room for growth—the type of growth we can’t fully envision.  The good news is that, like a teenager, AI can grow and do amazing things in this world.

With an AI teenager on my mind as well as my real one at home, the conference ended on a very positive note. I got to connect with new people, my current and future customers, partners like Marcus Chang from Axway, my former boss and mentor Derek Baggerly, and even extended family. I was excited to return home and share my Gartner experiences with my SupplyOn global teammates, discuss our current AI-infused solutions, technology roadmap, and provide them my Gartner SC Xpo insights.

Once home, while my kids were still disappointed that they could not join me at Disney, they were still happy to see me.  And despite having photographic evidence to the contrary (though I had to sneak a Star Wars pic in this from the hotel lobby because, come on, AI is so sci-fi), they still believed I was riding my favorite roller coaster, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and hanging out with Mickey the whole time. 

As I spent my Saturday catching up at home, doing some work, and writing this blog, I’m excited to take the Gartner learnings with me to help guide digital transformation journeys in the supply chain for organizations in the Americas.

About me

With over three decades of professional experience working in a wide variety of roles and systems and sixteen of those years as a mom, I like to work with organizations on their digital transformation journey using a combination of all of my experiences.  Like a mom/sherpa I support organizations with education, knowledge, experience, honesty, and snacks, of course, to help them find the best solutions for their supply chain.

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