https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • Complete 2023 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2023 MSP 501 50-1
    • 2023 MSP 501 100-51
    • 2023 MSP 501 150-101
    • 2023 MSP 501 200-151
    • 2023 MSP 501 250-201
    • 2023 MSP 501 300-251
    • 2023 MSP 501 350-301
    • 2023 MSP 501 400-351
    • 2023 MSP 501 450-401
    • 2023 MSP 501 501-451
    • NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Channel Futures 20: Top Tech Providers
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2023 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2023 MSP 501
    • 2023 NextGen 101
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Technology Advisor 101 (TA 101)
    • Channel Leaders Lists
  • Events
    • Back
    • 2024 CP Expo Call for Speakers
    • Channel Futures Leadership Summit
    • MSP Summit
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • Complete 2023 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2023 MSP 501 50-1
    • 2023 MSP 501 100-51
    • 2023 MSP 501 150-101
    • 2023 MSP 501 200-151
    • 2023 MSP 501 250-201
    • 2023 MSP 501 300-251
    • 2023 MSP 501 350-301
    • 2023 MSP 501 400-351
    • 2023 MSP 501 450-401
    • 2023 MSP 501 501-451
    • NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Channel Futures 20: Top Tech Providers
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2023 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2023 MSP 501
    • 2023 NextGen 101
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Technology Advisor 101 (TA 101)
    • Channel Leaders Lists
  • Events
    • Back
    • 2024 CP Expo Call for Speakers
    • Channel Futures Leadership Summit
    • MSP Summit
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Agents
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • Channel Partners Events
 Channel Futures

From the Industry


Sponsor Content

Forklift at warehouse

The New AI Supply Chain

  • Written by Oracle Guest Blogger
  • May 21, 2019
Business leaders have an important decision to make: Construct your own digital supply chain to feed AI, or be the consumer of someone else’s supply chain.

Supply chains are hugely important in our world of physical goods. Companies invest a lot of money and effort to continually optimize and improve them, and that’s not likely to ever stop. Save 5% on transportation costs? That’s a big deal.

As artificial intelligence begins to reshape our digital world via AI-infused goods, services and processes, it will require its own supply chain: mind-boggling quantities of data. Mountains of information must be continually gathered, processed, refined, and reassembled to produce the desired intelligence and decision-making.

This is not a new insight; our prior fascination with big data and analytics taught us much the same thing. But with AI, we’re talking orders of magnitude more information. Good, data-enriched AI will be infinitely preferable to poor, data-starved AI.

If we accept that the march toward an AI-enabled world is upon us, as business leaders we have an important decision to make: Do we construct our own digital supply chains to feed our AI, or be the consumer of someone else’s supply chain?

Like most things, the answer depends.

Table Stakes or Differentiator?

Let’s start with an application every organization uses—ERP, the software that manages such processes as accounting, procurement, project management and manufacturing. These systems are the backbone of most organizations, and built-in AI functionality is poised to make a huge impact across many core business processes, like demand planning.

The good news is that there’s a great deal of commonality in any given industry, a certain set of modern best practices. People usually don’t go about creating unique, creative solutions for, say, order-to-cash. Cloud software vendors can exploit these similarities by offering easy-to-consume, AI-infused ERP applications, combining modest amounts of internal data with powerful models pre-trained on vast amounts of external data.

So when it comes to build versus buy for AI-enabled core business processes, the answer for many will likely be “buy.”

Now let’s shift the focus to how AI might make your organization unique in the eyes of your customers. Better, intelligence-infused products?  Smarter and more personalized services?

We can learn something from our experience with mobile applications. In the first wave of such apps, they were nothing more than pretty skins over existing applications. We quickly learned that we had to reengineer the entire user experience to be successful.

We will likely see the same with AI-infused user experiences. If anyone can easily do a Siri-like voice interface, where’s the competitive advantage?  We’ll need to get much more involved in sourcing relevant data, choosing the right algorithms, and presenting it all in a unique and compelling way.

But we won’t need to start with a blank piece of paper, thankfully.

Many aspects of the digital supply chain demanded for AI are available today in easy-to-consume form, thanks to cloud computing. Data enrichment as a service. Data pipeline automation. Self-training models. Conversational interfaces. Security and management. All ready to be put to work.

Yes, you’re building something unique, but doing so with a big head start.  You’ll be adding your unique value, but not reinventing the wheel.

Technology is rapidly transforming the world around us. New technologies give us strong incentive to look at familiar problems in new ways.

I expect that just five years from now, many of us will care more about the digital supply chains that feed our AI than the physical ones that feed our warehouses.

This guest blog is part of a Channel Futures sponsorship.

Tags: VARs/SIs Analytics Artificial Intelligence Business Models Cloud From the Industry Intelligence Mobility & Wireless Technologies Oracle Sponsor Content

Most Recent


  • CEO Steve Brazier at Canalys Channels Forum EMEA 2023
    Canalys Channels Forum EMEA 2023: Vendors Ask Channel for Help During Economic Slowdown
    Channel partners are thriving as IT vendors continue to move to "partner-first" to navigate a tough economy, says Canalys.
  • No Competition?
    In Major CCaaS Play, NICE to Acquire LiveVox for $350 Million
    The move is part of a greater trend of CCaaS consolidation, which experts expect to continue.
  • Avaya CEO: Post-Bankruptcy, Channel Partners Enabling Collective Growth
    We picked the brain of Avaya's CEO’s regarding the channel's role in the company's emergence from chapter 11.
  • John DeLozier, ConvergeOne, people on the move
    Channel People on the Move: HP, 8x8, Five9, Nitel, RapidScale, More
    New hires and promotions featured here also include Bridgepointe, C1, Telarus, Kore and many more.

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your Channel Futures account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Group shot of Oracle sustainability award winners
    Oracle Sustainability Innovation Awards: Nominations Due June 21
  • Risk management plan
    Risk Management: Moving from a Tactical to Strategic Strategy
  • Oracle February Blog Image
    This Valentine’s Day, Give the Gift of IT Education
  • training
    Set Yourself Apart with Effective Learning and Enablement Strategies

Upcoming Events

View all

Channel Futures Leadership Summit

October 30, 2023 - November 2, 2023

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

March 11, 2024 - March 14, 2024

Channel Futures Leadership Summit 2024

September 17, 2024 - September 19, 2024

Galleries

View all

Channel People on the Move: HP, 8×8, Five9, Nitel, RapidScale, More

October 3, 2023

7 Trends Impacting Ingram Micro Partners: Marriage of AI, Data Looms Large

October 2, 2023

Nutanix Partner Program Sees More Changes, Vendor Touts ‘Channel-Led’

October 2, 2023

Industry Perspectives

View all

Partners Balance Multicloud Opportunity, Complexity

September 25, 2023

Why Conversational AI Matters for Your Customers and How It Can Boost Your Revenue

September 15, 2023

The 5 Ds that Lead to Unplanned Business Sales

September 13, 2023

Webinars

View all

MSP 501: Leadership in Cybersecurity

October 19, 2023

DE&I: Find the Balance that Works for You

September 7, 2023

Above and Beyond with the NextGen 101ers

August 30, 2023

White Papers

View all

6 UCaaS Reseller Challenges and How Real World Businesses Solved Them

February 1, 2023

Frost Radar: North American UCaaS Market, 2022

February 1, 2023

The Complete Guide to White-Label UCaaS for Reseller Success

February 1, 2023

Channel Futures TV

View all

Coffee with Craig and James Episode 129: ZLH Enterprises

Coffee with Craig and James Episode 128: Channel Partner Strategies Intelligence Service

August 25, 2023

Coffee with Craig and James Episode 127: Expereo, Movie Night Returns

August 18, 2023

Coffee with Craig and James Episode 126: ARG

July 28, 2023

MSP 501

The industry's largest and most comprehensive partner awards program.

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Galleries

Educational slide shows and images from live events.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Events
  • Telecoms.com
  • MSP 501
  • Black Hat
  • IoT World Today
  • Omdia

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X