Oracle recently announced new AI and automation capabilities on its Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite for accelerating supply chain planning, improving operational efficiency, and increasing financial accuracy for its customers. This is similar to IBM, Microsoft, and SAP leveraging AI within their supply chain management systems. 

Numerous companies face difficulties with disparate systems that demand intricate and expensive integrations, leading to sluggish business procedures and affecting financial precision and profitability. To overcome these obstacles and enhance the promptness and precision of analysis, an integrated framework is required that allows the integration of AI and automation into supply chain operations. And cloud and business intelligence providers have recognised that. 

In November last year, Microsoft announced its Supply Chain Platform, which would leverage low-code and AI-enabled applications for maximising supply chain data estate investment. Same month, SAP also announced that it is working on business AI including custom apps for supply chain management. The next month, AWS also announced their foray into supply chain management dubbed as AWS Supply Chain.

In a recent interaction with AIM, Balu Chaturvedula, vice president-technology, supply chain, US omni tech, Walmart, said that the retail giant is also investing heavily in automation and AI-driven algorithms for streamlining its supply chain, inventory management, and personalised customer experiences. The company has been competing with Oracle, Microsoft, AWS, and SAP in the cloud battle.

The question is whether Walmart would open up its services for enterprise use, the one that according to the retail giant saved it 18% on cloud expenditures. But building an automated system like Walmart is, for managing their regular supply chain is not a task that can be done by every business individually as it requires a huge amount of investment in hardware, software, and infrastructure. 

That is why, a lot of these business intelligence providers are shifting their focus on introducing AI into their systems for automating a lot of tasks like monitoring, planning, and responding. This will enable the companies to automate their tasks using the technology provided by these cloud providers. But for these companies, it is just a battle.

Oracle Leads the Arena

According to the Decision Dilemma study by Oracle, 97% of Indians believe that a company that uses data-driven decision-making technology is more trustworthy. About 87% of Indian business leaders and 82% of employees would prefer to have a robot make decisions for them. Clearly, a greater number of business leaders in India say they would be fine with relying on AI.

Introduced in 2021, Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite provides customers of Oracle Cloud with enterprise resource planning (ERP), enterprise performance management (EPM), supply chain management and manufacturing (SCM), human capital management (HCM), and customer experience (CX). Since then, the company has been introducing AI/ML capabilities. For instance, in 2021 the company started using machine learning for predicting supply chain issues.

Oracle claimed that the company started integrating AI within its SCM system before Microsoft, IBM, and SAP and has been the leader in this space for a long time.

Steve Miranda, executive vice president of Oracle applications product development, said that companies struggle with workforce planning, transparency, and changing business needs. “You might go from a single source in a single location to multiple, giving you the flexibility of pricing, and certainly some resiliency in terms of disruption. But then it also makes your supply chain more complicated, and this is where AI kicks in, to optimise how you do that,” Miranda told ComputerWeekly.

Kaushik Mitra, senior director of Cloud ERP at Oracle India, said that with these latest enhancements in the company’s suite of products, organisations will be able to manage supply chain data on the same platform as finance, HR, and customer experience, which will accelerate the operational process within the businesses. “This comprehensive strategy fosters an environment in which AI and automation help in allowing businesses to accomplish more with less and drive operational efficiencies,” said Mitra. 

“Oracle is well-positioned to help businesses in this area through the data management capabilities built into our solution offerings including our cloud services”, Shailender Kumar, senior vice president and regional managing director, Oracle India and NetSuite JAPAC, told AIM.

Optimistic Approach

Oracle stepping up its AI-based cloud race and adding more capabilities within supply chain management is definitely a smart move at the moment, with being just a few months behind its rivals. Moreover, its customers have a lot of good things to say about Oracle anyway.

Sai Satheesh Sadgopan, Chief Technology Officer, myTVS told AIM that, “We are already seeing numerous benefits including streamlined inventory planning, faster and more accurate accounting book closing, and report generation for our stakeholders. Overall, we have been able to improve operational efficiency and reduce costs.” myTVS is an auto parts and accessories company that recently partnered with Oracle for integrating its AI-based supply chain management system. 

Similarly, when Accenture acquired Inspirage, an Oracle Cloud-based firm, Renato Scaff, North America lead of Accenture Supply Chain and Operations said, “In a time of unprecedented disruption and supply constraints, companies need to reimagine, build, and operate supply chain networks that orchestrate change, simplify people’s lives and positively impact business, society and the planet.”

AI SCM Prowess

Business intelligence companies like IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and now Oracle, are introducing AI that helps in the automation of tasks that were being done manually even on cloud systems. According to a report from IBM in 2022, 47% of surveyed chief supply chain officers said they have introduced new automation technologies in the past two years.

A recent study by McKinsey determined that companies that are adopting AI-enabled supply chain management reduced 15% logistic costs and 35% inventory level reduction. This increased a 65% service level of the companies. Clearly, there are a number of benefits because of the increased automation in the supply chain as well.

Effective supply chain management is one of the most critical aspects of running businesses and enterprises. There are several challenges that companies face when multiple parties such as suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and logistic providers are involved in the daily functioning. Ensuring timely and accurate communication and working of the supply chain is essential for resolving issues and coordination of activities. 

Similar to how enterprises eventually have completely migrated to clouds, the integration of AI is inevitable within supply chains as well. But even then, there is still a lack of trust in AI. It would be difficult for companies to shift towards automation and rely on it for various tasks if the transition is not made easier.

[Update: 15:00 | April 26, 2023: The story has been updated to reflect that Oracle has been one of the pioneers in bringing AI capabilities to its SCM]