How effective is generative AI in the supply chain?
New data from Gartner reveals the productivity gains generative AI is creating among supply chain employees.
More than seven-in-10 (72%) of 265 global supply chain executives surveyed by Gartner in August 2024 said their organizations have deployed generative AI. However, survey results indicate that most respondents are experiencing middling results for productivity and ROI.
The most significant finding from Gartner’s research is that generative AI produces much better results among desk-level supply chain employees when it is used by individual workers as opposed to at team level.
On average, the survey indicates that generative AI in the supply chain enables individual desk-level supply chain employees to produce save an average of 4.11 hours of work per week
Seven-in-10 (71%) respondents agreed that generative AI improved individual employee work output and 63% said the technology improved individual work quality.
However, at the team level, the survey reveals that overall supply chain teams only saved 1.5 hours of work per week in aggregate. Only 54% of respondents said that generative AI improved team-level work output and less than half (44%) said the technology improved the quality of team-level work.
This means there is no statistical correlation to either improved output or higher quality of work enabled by the use of generative AI at the individual and team levels.
[READ MORE: Supply chain execs see opportunity, challenge in AI]
Generative AI less effective on supply cbain frontline
In addition, Gartner found that frontline supply chain workers have failed to make similar productivity gains as their desk-based counterparts, despite recording a similar amount of time savings from the use of generative AI tools.
Supply chain employees also report higher levels of anxiety as they are exposed to a growing number of generative AI tools at work, with the average supply chain employee now utilizing 3.6 GenAI tools on average, according to Gartner data.
Gartner advises that higher anxiety among employees generally correlates to lower levels of overall productivity.
"Early GenAI deployments within supply chain reveal a productivity paradox," said Sam Berndt, senior director, Gartner supply chain practice. “While its use has enhanced individual productivity for desk-based roles, these gains are not cascading through the rest of the function and are actually making the overall working environment worse for many employees. Chief supply chain officers need to retool their deployment strategies to address these negative outcomes.”
Specifically, Gartner recommends that supply chain organizations shift from a focus on individual productivity gains to an aligned organizational productivity approach that prioritizes creativity-based use cases focused on strategic thinking and innovation across the entire workforce, including frontline workers.
