siliconindia | | July 20198ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENTBy Amin Mevawala, Regional Director, NCR Corporationonsumer behavior is changing, and they demand products and services to be available 24x7 across mobile, internet, self-service device or a store. Gone are those days when the buyer had to phys-ically visit the seller's brick and mortar store and that to only during business hours to shop. Thanks to the convenience of multi-functional gadgets like the mo-biles, tablets and smart devices available today that allow you to shop while on the couch during the commercial break between two engrossing web series. Keeping the changing consumer dynamics in mind, organizations have started in-vesting in technology and services that give consumers the power to shop at the time of their convenience and seam-lessly across channels. This is making a strong business case for organizations in India as they have strategic advantages being the third largest country from Purchase Power Pari-ty (PPP) perspective (behind China and U.S.), blessed with largest youth consumers in the world and the burgeoning middle-class population with growing income.Indian companies are re-shaping their business models to be relevant to today's consumers who are time starved and want services on-the-go. Strategic investments in auto-mation, restructuring infrastructure for better efficiency and higher focus on supply chain is becoming a norm for Indian organizations today. Focus on their supply chain is at its peak with the boom observed in e-Commerce, consumers now expect to utilize ordered product (or services) within hours instead of days. With competition increasing, consumers are spoilt for choice with so many options available and are less loyal. This has made service providers to understand that it's not only about the cost of the product, but benchmark after sale services and on-time delivery has become ever more critical. As they say, if we continue to do what we've always done, we will not be getting newer and better results. To continue being relevant to existing customer base and attract prospective buyers, there's an urgent need for reducing in efficiencies prevailing in the system. It's time that companies start investing in hardware, software and services to improve operational efficiency, increase uptime and reduce cost. This is possible by introducing more autonomous technology with thinking-and-self-learning machines in their opera-tions. You guessed it right, its indeed `Artificial Intelligence' (AI) ­ the word that was coined in 1955, but has recently started showing its true potential. Lot of businesses around the world are optimistic about the future of AI and ML (ma-chine learning), and are in active testing and implementation phase to improve their operations.No doubt, there will be massive transformation across the supply chain in near future. McKinsey Global Institute estimates that the transportation and warehousing industry has the third highest automation potential amongst various sectors. The value of the Indian logistics market is expected to increase by 35 percent in the next two years. In India, numerous startups have emerged to drive technology in sup-ply chain space and have attracted investments worth $1.89 billion in 2018. Companies which have taken the lead and implemented AI in transportation and logistics are already enjoying profit margins greater than five percent compared to non-adopters, as per McKinsey report.As a consumer, you are already interacting with robots. Lot of supply chains have already implemented Robotic Process automation (RPA) in customer touchpoints like con-tact centers, company portals, mobile apps, which essential-ly automate repetitive tasks traditionally done by humans. There are still a lot of opportunities considering prevailing monotonous activities being carried in Indian supply chain that could easily be automated. RPA process is all about con-stant learning and refining itself based on data collated using advanced analytics to improve efficiency.Implementation of RFID in warehouse and distribution centers can lead to better inventory management and will help further reduce labor cost, improve spares availability re-sulting in improved efficiencies. Further, the benefits of hav-Amin upholds 20+ years of diverse experience in banking & finance and is known for exceeding organizations's expectations via motivating and establishing team spirit in challenging scenarios.IN MY OPINIONC
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