[00:00:00] Automation is coming. Pick what area is gonna have the biggest impact for your business and pick a use case that’s meaningful. Really do something meaningful. Don’t waste your time. Automating something that’s not gonna be a measurable impact on your business. Welcome to Supply Chain Now the number one voice of supply chain.

[00:00:22] Join us as we share critical news, key insights, and real supply chain leadership from across the globe, one conversation at a time. Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be, Scott Luton and the one and only Karin Bursa with you here today on Supply Chain Now. Hey, Karin, how you doing?

[00:00:39] I’m doing great, Scott. It’s great to be with you today and I’m looking forward to this conversation. I am too, and I’ll tell you what it’s gonna be as beautiful as the weather is here in metro Atlanta. It’s a gorgeous day here today. Uh, we got one of our favorites back with us here today, uh, for a terrific, actionable discussion on an ever critical.

[00:00:59] But ever evolving key topics, supply chain planning in particular, we’re gonna be diving into some of the key takeaways from the Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit in Denver, just last December. Feels like it’s six years ago, but it was just like a month ago. Uh, now, Karin Burett and I both enjoyed the event and all the discussions.

[00:01:16] Jake Barr, many of our friends and and Supply Chain Now fan members were out there. We enjoyed the stage discussions, the breakout sessions. Some of those networking sessions were great after hours. Karin, and even better yet. Today, you, so you’re gonna get a synopsis, a lot of that, some of the key moments to that you can’t miss.

[00:01:35] But even better yet, we’ve got Noha, Samara, the conference chair, who gave us, uh, one of our favorite keynotes there, and she’s here with us today to share some of her own key takeaways in Eureka moments and that we can all put to good work here in the midyear. So stay tuned for all that much, much more Karin.

[00:01:54] We’ve got a big show up here today, huh? Absolutely. And uh, Noha is much too humble to say this, but being selected to be conference chair for a Gartner conference of this size is a big deal and certainly a big recognition of the contribution that she makes to the industry. And at Gartner. Yes, well said.

[00:02:15] I echo that a thousand percent. As Karin said, we’ve got a, uh, a heavyweight rock and roll star here today. I wanna introduce her really quick. We’d be here all day if I truly laid out all of our credentials, but at a high level, know how. Samara brings almost 20 years a diverse practitioner experience to the table, including significant experience and.

[00:02:36] Both consumer electronics and consumer goods, beauty and luxury cosmetics industries. She serves as not only Senior Director of Global Supply Chain at Gartner, but she also serves as global conference chair for the Supply Chain Planning Summit. And I promise you, I think this is her third appearance with this here.

[00:02:55] You’re gonna enjoy and value her point of view and perspective today. So let’s, uh, join me in welcoming Noha Samara with Gartner. Hey, hey Noha. How you doing today? Hello. Hi, Scott. Hi Karen. Very nice to be with you today. It is so terrific. Karin, we’ve been looking from the time we stepped off the plane back here in a TL.

[00:03:17] We’ve been looking forward to today’s event, huh? Absolutely. So let’s do this. No Hop, as we mentioned, what a prestigious position you hold as chair of the planning summits programming. I can only imagine how much work that goes into that. Both the great event in Denver, and of course the sister event that takes place in London.

[00:03:39] So far, what’s been some of the feedback you’ve gotten from the 2025 events? I think top of mind that the attendees love the agenda. They love the fact that we added a new track around transformation and change management for the first time, which featured lots of sessions around change management, like sustaining results.

[00:04:02] Transformation. They also appreciated that we brought the Garner Future Lab content into a supply chain event, which is a very futuristic content that talks about the future in maybe 30 years from now, how it would be looking like. They also appreciated the opportunity to network with their peers. So we created, for the first time this year, peer networking opportunities un facilitated about specific structured topics where people come together and talk about it.

[00:04:33] The executive stories from our guest speakers were also highly regarded, and obviously the interaction with the different vendors and technology providers all under one roof. I do remember the exhibitor hall. Buzzing with people. Like we had definitely, uh, an increase here on in terms of the exhibitors who have been there in the event, which, which is again great.

[00:04:58] Yes, Noha. Uh, two quick points before I get Karin to weigh in on that ex, the exhibitor hall you’re talking about. It was a bus. I was trying to get shake hands and meet some folks without getting in the way of business getting done. There was a lot of business getting done on that exhibitor hall, and then, uh, you shared a lot great things there that 30 year look ahead.

[00:05:17] Very valuable. A lot, lot of times we focus kind of on the next two to three years, so really getting bold. And then of course the networking. Karin, I, I know you and I both enjoyed. Uh, the networking a couple different ways, but what else did Karin based on what you heard there from Noha and your own experience, ’cause you’ve been to several of these, your thoughts on the value posed?

[00:05:36] I’ve been to all of them, but I, what I like about this event is it is the largest event dedicated specifically to supply chain planning. So if that’s your domain and you’re looking to make an impact in that. Area of supply chain. This is the event to attend. You get to hear what Gartner, uh, is seeing in the industry where they think priorities will be where they recommend.

[00:06:01] Um, you know, adopting new technology or a new process change and the networking is fantastic. So, the symposium event that happens in the springtime, great event as well, but it’s broader. So it covers transportation and distribution and distributor order management. Just a variety of other topics in addition to planning.

[00:06:22] But if you are somebody whose role is in that planning space, you need to get this on your calendar. Undoubtedly. And really quick, the symposium that you mentioned coming up in May, I believe not first off, you’ll be there at Supply Chain Symposium in May in Orlando. Right. And I think that runs, I don’t have it right in front of me.

[00:06:41] I think that runs May 4th through the sixth in or in May. That’s absolutely right, yes. Okay. And you’ll be as busy as you were at the summit. I know you’ll be busy again, kind of as one of the mayors at Symposium. Is that right? Noha? Yeah. And I’m bringing new content and new insights into Orlando. Yeah.

[00:07:03] Love it. Love it. Well, before we, before we, let’s take a look back, let’s reflect a little bit more. Uh, there was so much that went on out in Denver. We’ve all kind of already spoken to it a little bit. But given all the conversations and the presentations that you are part of and you delivered out in Denver Noha, what were three key takeaways that our audience do you think would find helpful and informative here today?

[00:07:24] I’ll start with ai. There was a lot of buzz around AI and. AI is no longer an experiment on the side of planning. It’s becoming a part of the operating system, but the most successful companies are not the ones that are really investing or just embracing the ai. These are the companies that are articulating and defining a clear human machine strategy.

[00:07:48] The companies that are really. Deliberately being clear on the role of AI or that it should, it should play in the organization. So it’s not just investing in AI everywhere, but it’s really being specific on the areas that would deliver the highest value for them. Hey, really quick, uh, Karin. Sure. If I can, before you move to your second key takeaway, Karin, that human machine strategy, we talked a lot.

[00:08:15] There was a lot of talk around that because that’s what, uh, uh, industry leading organizations really deliberately invest in. Your quick thoughts on that first key takeaway of ai. Yeah, I think that’s really important because this is just not a technology play, or it’s not only a technology play, the way technology has evolved in this area of artificial intelligence, generative analytic, and now it’s changing business process also.

[00:08:41] So we need to look at that human connection and how we best leverage our talent and prepare them to do bigger, better, more interesting things in the future. Yep. Well said. Uh, alright, so Noha first key takeaway didn’t disappoint, uh, as expected. What’s number two? No, two is change management. Actually, this transformation is not just about technology, but I do believe that this transformation is.

[00:09:06] It’s actually about people. It’s how you are bringing people around with you on the journey. It’s how you’re making the people ready. You’re investing in their capabilities in a way that help you leverage the technology the most. I hate to say that this is like a, a technology or a digital transformation, but it’s, I always like to call it, it’s an overall transformation.

[00:09:28] Change management here is key. So Karin. I’m so glad we put a spotlight on that in the manner that Noha does, because digital transformation, which we’ve been using for years is accurate, but at the same time, it can really put too much emphasis on the technology side. Technology and to, as Noha mentioned, it’s about the people today more than ever before.

[00:09:51] Perhaps Karin your thought. Yeah, I, I do agree with that as, as we said already, because I, I think that we’re unlocking new productivity in our people as well as in the technology. I think that we are freeing them up in essence, to do and, and do some creative things and use that business context to really accelerate decision making.

[00:10:14] And I think that this velocity of decision making is the big game changer here. Yep. And we’ll definitely talk more about Totally agree. Noha number three. The third one is like considering transformation as a continuous act, right? Like, you know, like you cannot be thinking of transformation as like at one point, like it’s a one project that I’m going to be done with it.

[00:10:38] If you look at the. The most successful and high performing organizations, they are in continuous waves of transformation. They have a transformation roadmap. They know that they are going to implement this, then that, and then afterwards they have a vision around their transformation and they never like their transformation, never.

[00:10:57] Right. So I think that’s a key message that people need to know, regardless of where they are in, into their transformation or their maturity journey. There should be kind of a vision to continuously improve, continuously transform, because guess what? Technology is advancing. Uh, like, you know, very fast. If you are not transforming at that speed, you will always be lagging behind.

[00:11:24] Well said Noha. I thought you were gonna say when you said, guess what, I thought you were gonna say because disruption is continuous now as well. So Karin, a lot of thoughts there on that continuous transformation. Uh, and her third key takeaway your thoughts. Yeah, I, I think that that is, is really good advice that it, it isn’t gonna end, and technology is evolving at a pace that I’ve never seen before in my career.

[00:11:49] And it’s exciting and there’s new and innovative ways to apply the technology that you have, work with your partners today, but also look at doing some new and interesting things in the future because the role of supply chain will continue to be vitally important to businesses. But how we make decisions is gonna continue to evolve at a very rapid pace.

[00:12:13] That’s right. Making decisions, how we plan, how we empower our planners to take what they do, their valuable work they do to the next level. And hopefully we can get rid of some of those spreadsheets that are still plugging gaps in businesses. I wish, I wish just the other day, and it might have been on the buzz on Monday or could have been on on the show we did yesterday.

[00:12:34] We were just, we were kind of talking about spreadsheets and AI and I can’t remember exactly how it came about, but someone mentioned how in meetings. Forever. We’ve had folks, especially in cross-functional meetings, everybody brings their own own spreadsheet that has their own data, and a lot of times it doesn’t agree.

[00:12:50] And then we made the analogy, well, these days. While spreadsheets are being replaced, everyone’s gonna bring their own AI that have, may have different outcomes, different results, different suggestions to these meetings. But hey, I think that’s still a step forward. I don’t know. Okay. So Noha, Karin and I both, as I think we mentioned earlier, sat in on with a lot of the folks sat in on a great keynote that you gave.

[00:13:12] I think that was one of my, certainly one of my favorites of the two days. Thank you. Um, so by the way, folks, if you attended the event. You can still access a lot of these things on demand via gartner.com, including no ha’s keynote, so check that out. But for folks that may have missed it, Noha, what’s a couple of key ideas you’d really wanna share with our audience here today?

[00:13:34] So the, the session was mainly focused on reflections from the top 25 supply chain organizations and what are the key planning trends that we see those high performing or successful organizations are adopting. Before I take you quickly through these key themes, I, I have to say that we are living in a world that is super volatile, super complex, super risky, and this is not going to.

[00:14:02] Change in the near future. And when we have to really adapt our processes to this kind of volatility, complexity, and, uh, and risk that we have. And those companies, those 20 top 25 supply chain organizations are really successful because they are able to adopt. Those trends that help them be more agile and more resilient against all those different disruptions in risks that they face.

[00:14:29] The key observing, like, and I’ve been on the top 25 supply chain program since I joined Gartner and like observing the different, uh, the different companies that get recognized there. We see that there are three key trends that differentiate those organizations. The first one is on connecting end-to-end data and insights.

[00:14:49] And how they are leveraging both internal and external data to feed into their plans, to understand the plan drivers to understand the consequences, and based on that, they build different scenarios and mitigate different risks and have kind of what we call range plans rather than having a one number plan approach to feed into their systems or their supply plans and their demand plans.

[00:15:17] Also on that point, we foresee that the most successful companies are, are even extending this range based discussions or scenario based discussions with their key trading partners, their key suppliers, and their key customers. Obviously, again, not through Excel sheets, but, but through really, really great.

[00:15:37] The systems together and having like those structured regular discussions on the range plans, it’s not about when, when you’re collaborating with your key partners, it’s not about sharing a demand plan or sharing a a supply plan. It’s about like understanding how high or how low this plan could change, what could be the different scenarios and.

[00:15:59] Having this discussion collaboratively on like, you know, how to mitigate these deviations. That’s the very first, um, uh, trend that we see. Yeah. So, uh, Noha, before you move on to your next takeaway, thank you for that. Uh, quick pause. I’ll tell you. These are, these are micro master classes, Noha, that you’re delivering here today.

[00:16:22] Karin, any comments on, uh, the first key key? Theme, uh, from her keynote that she shared that you and I sat on? Yeah, so this session was really valuable because knowhow used specific examples of companies in the top 25 who are achieving. Inspirational results for others. And this range, this idea of range planning was actually one of the things that I took note on because the company, I believe one of the companies that was discussed was Lenovo and Right, right.

[00:16:54] Planning within a range of performance and working on that Noha with their, with their trading partners. To ensure that the right product is at the right place at the right time without excess and without shortages. And so I really like this. In, in the past, in, in the old days in planning, we tried to get to a one number plan, but the reality is that most businesses will operate.

[00:17:20] Within that range, within the range. Let give them scenarios within that range so that you can have some flexibility in the actual performance or execution or timeline for those. So I thought that was a really valuable insight. Well said. Karin and Ella. Add one more to that. Noha you mentioned earlier as you were kinda level setting before your key takeaways, you mentioned the VUCA environment, the emits amounts of complexity.

[00:17:47] Well, you shared on your keynote. Two great nuggets on the same visual. On one hand you said none. Uh, research shows that 91% of supply chain leaders consider complexity as a significant barrier to supply chain performance. That makes sense. Probably everybody out there. But then in a corollary point you mentioned that only 24% of leaders are collecting multiple.

[00:18:09] Real time data feeds that allow the organization to do something about it, identify disruptions, and act quicker to avoid some of the consequences. Absolutely. So, absolutely not to derail you from your next point, but I love that ’cause it really kind of talks about what we acknowledge, but what we action we’re not taking.

[00:18:28] Please continue to know how on other big things. Perfect. Uh, the second trend is powering agility with automation and how we are not just collecting real time data and having like this visibility, but how are we acting fast as well to these kind of insights and real, real time data that we are, we’re getting.

[00:18:48] Which decisions can you automate? Right? We see the high performing organizations and top 25 organizations. Or defining which decisions would be automated defining when humans would be on the loop, off the loop or in the loop. Like meaning that like when humans need to monitor the, the automated decisions, when humans need to be totally off the loop, decisions are being taken directly by the system because.

[00:19:14] I do believe that it’s not just about like, you know, getting this data into the systems, but it’s also what differentiates tho those high performing organizations here. There is their speed and their agility to act fast On that point also, like you know it, and it has to be paired with this visibility and this automation of decisions.

[00:19:35] We see that those top 25 organizations are investing in their supply chain responsiveness. Where it really matters. So like they, they are getting the data. They’re automating the decisions and their supply chains are able to execute these decisions as well fast in the segments where it makes sense in the, in their product segments that are highly profitable or in the markets that are highly profitable.

[00:20:00] So they are like. You know, creating this, this agility powered by automation. And examples of this, uh, yeah. There were a couple also of companies that I gave examples on, like, for example, uh, uh, G and J using real time data, which is actually like, not a CPG, because I always get like, you know, this pushback on, oh, real time data.

[00:20:26] Okay. That is only applicable for CPGs, but like the example I gave was from. A totally different industry life sciences. Right. And, and it’s hyping. Yes. You know, really quick, one of my favorite parts about your keynote, all the practical examples, kind of case studies in a, in a single visual that you punctuated throughout your, your keynote because hey, there’s an opportunity to.

[00:20:47] To act on the new planning imperative across all sectors and all industries. And you, that was a big theme of your presentation. For the sake of time, Noha, we wanna make sure folks know how to connect with you and we wanna make, make sure we put the dates of the next summit. Uh, I know you have a hard stop.

[00:21:03] Is there one more big key theme you’d like to share and leave with us from your keynote? Yeah, so the, the third theme was defining deliberate role for ai and how they, those high performing organizations are. Not just trying to invest in AI everywhere, because that’s, that’s a big myth. It’s really about defining and understanding where AI really would really drive value.

[00:21:28] So they might be piloting broad, but they are, when they are scaling, they are scaling in the areas that would really bring the value, um, on that. And the other thing is. When I say deliberately defining the role of ai, we see those organizations are involving their planners and their employees early in the AI journey.

[00:21:49] Like making them part of the discussion around what are the challenges that they are facing today where AI can help them the most. So they are bringing the people along that, that journey with them. And that was a, that was a key theme just about to a. To a, each and every case study you shared of where they engaged the frontline, the people, they did their, they deliberately invested in their AI strategy with their people, not to their people.

[00:22:19] And then the other big thing, kind of the, um, parallel with that is they went to where instead of taking a vague approach to where they apply ai mm-hmm. Hey, let’s start with the problems that our planners have. If we eliminated X, Y, Z problem using AI or for that matter, any other. Technology or solution, where should we start in getting their people to prioritize the biggest gaps to cover?

[00:22:43] So, Noha it, I, I really wish we could share the whole thing today ’cause it was horrific and the room was full for good reason. Karin, really quick, broad reaction to something Noha shared here, or her keynote in general. Yeah, so my reaction actually to the last point in applying artificial intelligence is to be sure that you do have a specific use case.

[00:23:04] You’ve got an area of the business, you’re not gonna spread it like peanut butter, you know, it is solving or can be applied to solve specific challenges. And once you prove that out in your environment, in your business, then you can start moving faster and broader. Throughout your planning process or throughout your supply chain operations, there’s huge opportunity, but the ones that are being successful are carving out a specific use case.

[00:23:32] They’ve got expected results around it. They understand where their data is, how they can augment that with market data and the upskilling that may be needed for their team. To actually leverage that most effectively. But it’s an exciting time to be in supply chain, and there’s lots of really great examples that Noha shared in this session, and I think that that’s why it was one of my favorite sessions.

[00:23:56] Uh, I’m with you, Karin, and you can’t, I’m gonna steal it from you. You can’t spread a, like peanut butter. It’s more like targeting and placing like cherry on top of an ice cream sundae or something. I, we’ll figure out the right place. I love that. I love it. Hey, really quick. We wanna remind folks, Noha, the dates are set for the 2026 events, Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit in London, October 5th and sixth.

[00:24:20] Is that right? Noha? Yes. And Denver is November 2nd and third. 2026. And folks, that’s a little distinction there ’cause Noha, y’all based on feedback from customers. Love it. Y’all moved that from December and up a month to earlier to early November, is that right? Yes, that’s right. So it’s before Thanksgiving.

[00:24:41] That is really, really important. So folks, if you’ll learn more, go to gartner.com and Noha. If folks wanna connect with you, if they wanna learn more on anything you touched on here today, if they want to maybe take a look at your keynote or other research, how can folks connect with you? Noha happy to do that through LinkedIn.

[00:24:58] Best way is LinkedIn. I, I normally check it regularly. Outstanding. I’m not sure where you find the time, Noha Sam, but folks we are to make it really easy for you. Drop no ha’s LinkedIn link right there. You one click away from Connecting with the Dynamo. That is Noha Samara. Big thanks. I wish we had more time with you.

[00:25:19] We’ll, we’ll make some more time soon later in this new year. I look forward to seeing you, uh, you and Karin both at Symposium in May. And thanks so much for carving times. Time out with us here today. Noha Samara, Senior Director of Global Supply Chain at Gartner. Thanks so much, Noha. Thank you. Thank you so much, Scott.

[00:25:36] Thank you. Thank you, Karen, for hosting me. That was an amazing and a very enjoyable session. I hope the audience learned something out of it. Thank you, undoubtedly. We’ll talk to you soon, Noha. Have a great rest of your week. See you soon. Thank you. Thank you. As expected. Karin, uh, Noha delivered. Once again, I only wish we had more time, but I bet most folks do that talk with you or with Noha.

[00:26:01] They always want more time. Karin, when you, you know, that was a fast moving as we knew it would be a half hour or so. What was one of your favorite things, key takeaways from no ha’s segment here today. So I, I love how practical some of the examples are that Noha Shares. No. Ha’s experience as a practitioner, I think gives her a unique ability to really connect and simplify the conversation so that we can all benefit from it.

[00:26:29] And she gives practical, useful. Recommendations, and so I appreciate that. But I like the three things that she shared. You know, as far as data and insights, had to write it down, both internal and external. We’ve talked about external data for decades. We’ve talked about collaborating with our trading partners.

[00:26:49] For decades. I think that the technology and business processes are now finally aligning that that becomes a reality and that we can do range planning and share that with our trading partners and be able to improve the performance at every node in the supply chain. So I think there’s some really exciting things coming from there.

[00:27:10] And then the powering agility and automation. Automation is coming. Pick what area is gonna have the biggest impact for your business and pick a use case that’s meaningful. Really do something meaningful. Don’t waste your time automating something that’s not gonna be a measurable impact on your business.

[00:27:30] Spend the time, effort, talent on something that is gonna deliver a meaningful impact and get folks motivated to do more. Throughout the business. And I think the, the last thing was the role of ai. So AI is, is gonna permeate everything. And I think honestly, gen ai, which is what we talked about last year at this event, that was like, oh, and by the way, gen AI this year because it was all about agent ai.

[00:27:58] And I think gen AI has really become kind of a rocket, rocket fuel catalyst for ag agentic. And this is where we’re gonna see some big. Steps forward in the way we plan the cadence that we can plan, the data that we unleash in the business, the new insights, all these exciting things. So it’s a great time to be in supply chain.

[00:28:22] I knew it was coming. I knew you were gonna get that in, but I completely agree with you and I think one thing, especially related to AI is what’s in our blind spot. We’ve talked about this today. What, where we think we apply AI and other innovative technologies today, and the art, the true arts of those of the possibilities, all that’s gonna change.

[00:28:42] And next time, it’s not gonna be a a year cycle, it’s gonna be eight months, six months, or six weeks. And to your point about the different, the different types of ai. And I’m not confused with any AI scientists out there, but in talking with hundreds, if not thousands of supply chain leaders that are doing it, as each of these new types of AI continues to mature, they work with each other to find new applications for the older versions.

[00:29:06] Yeah. Uh, of ai. Really amazing like that. You know, blockchain 3D, printing, all these things we’ve been talking about forever. Don’t close the book on any of those things based on where technology’s going. Karin, one other thing. We didn’t, that no hawk, we didn’t have time to get to. But one of my favorite parts, you know, I’m a, I’m a big fan for the, the, not the soft and fuzzy, but the, the compelling cultural part of Change Ranch, right?

[00:29:29] Yeah. Well, you and I were there as, no Hak closed out her session and she had kind of used a race. There’s a type of race and obstacle course that she, she worked, but it, she referenced throughout, but it was a big racing analogy that she used throughout. And one thing, a couple things she said, said there.

[00:29:48] We don’t always have all the answers. As we start to set out and craft the strategy and the plan, and she mentioned this quote, leaders act and learn their way forward. And you can too. And that’s so real. And it’s so real. You know, I look back at what I didn’t know a year ago, so maybe even a month ago, and, but what, what we figured out and was every step the perfect one?

[00:30:13] No. But the failures or the missteps teach equally, if not more than the successful ones. And then one last thing that Noha shared really at the end. She urged people, Hey, get off the sidelines. Don’t sit there on the sidelines and watch others change faster and build smarter and perform better. She invited folks to stop watching and join the race because it’s not about company versus company, as she put it.

[00:30:40] It’s about you versus you. And I think it’s so true, especially in this era where our self-learning, we can never sleep on learning something new. Every day. So a lot of good stuff directly to the planning expertise that you’ve really touched on, and then the kind of the bigger picture that that really resonated with me too.

[00:30:59] Your quick reaction to that, and then I’m gonna get some of your key takeaways from the summit. Your quick, quick reaction first. Yeah, no, I, I agree with you completely. I think the worst thing that you can do right now is sit on the sidelines. I think you need to start building your corporate skillset around applying artificial intelligence, and I think that supply chain is an ideal.

[00:31:23] Part of the business. It’s a data rich part of the business, and it’s also one that has been metrics driven. And, you know, I, I’m a big facts, not feelings kind of person. And if we can accelerate delivering those facts or looking at multiple scenarios for the business, we’re gonna have greater confidence in the decisions that we’re making.

[00:31:46] So it’s not just about making decisions faster, it’s making the best decision possible. At the time that a decision needs to be made. And so we can’t afford to, you know, spend weeks making decisions anymore because the ball is continually moving, if you will, down the field or up the field. To use a sports analogy around that.

[00:32:06] So my, my advice is don’t sit on the sidelines. If you fail, fail fast. Learn from it, and get up and start, you know, with another use case, another area of the business, another opportunity. Well said. And I will u I’ll double down on your sports analogy since today is, uh, game one of, uh, the college football playoff semi-final here in the States.

[00:32:27] And you were talking about moving up and down the field from a, a, a football analogy. Well, when I think of the, your point about decision making and not just making them faster Mm. For some reason it, it, um, the. A quarterback play jumped into my mind if we, if we wanted to strengthen our passing offense, we don’t want the quarterback just throwing more passes.

[00:32:48] Got a RPO. Yeah. Versus we need more completions. We need more first downs and more touchdowns. And there’s a great analogy. It’s not about just making faster decisions, to your point, to make ’em faster. We gotta make ’em writer more often. I’m probably not using that Great, great grammar, but, okay. Karin.

[00:33:06] Changing gears as we kind of come down the home stretch here, uh, and moving beyond. No. Ha’s wonderful, uh, perspective, uh, you and me and Jake Barr. I know we already had a tea key takeaway session there in Denver, which we’ve gotten some feedback around, good feedback around. But I wanna give you the opportunity, especially given one of your certainly is supply chain planning.

[00:33:27] What was some of your own key? Top two, three takeaways From Denver, Karin. Yeah. Yeah. I’ll, I’ll start with a couple of them and then I know we share one big one and, uh, we’ve already talked a little bit about artificial intelligence here and, and the impact that it’s gonna have. Don’t approach it thinking it’s gonna be perfect.

[00:33:45] It’s not perfect. It’s not perfect yet. It’s not gonna be spread like peanut butter. It’s not gonna be applied cookie cutter to every business or every use case. There is magic in the technology and some really exciting things happening in this area, and it’s evolving very quickly. So get started now and be fearless.

[00:34:06] Being fearless was one of the themes of the opening keynote at the conference and, uh, when we were talking and, uh, networking. We saw a lot of people, Scott, this is one. I know you, Jake, and I all shared that they, they looked more like that deer in the headlights than a fearless innovator or a fearless transformation leader.

[00:34:26] But I think that, you know, it was just the awareness that so much was happening that they didn’t know where to start. But what was your take on that? Uh, I did. I loved it. I loved that moment. With you and Jake. ’cause it was a more, it was a y moment for me because sometimes you’re kinda around conversations or big themes and, and then it takes someone calling it out to say, man, that’s right.

[00:34:49] That’s been a big theme for the whole couple days. But you know, on a related note to the zombie and the deer and headlights, that probably, to be fair, all of us have in this really fast velocity of change and technological innovation. But AI fatigue, you and I spoke with Alex on the buzz earlier this week around that, and they’re kind of all related.

[00:35:07] But my take, since they’re all related, you know, my thought is we can’t ignore it ’cause it’s reality. But I also believe it’s a big leadership problem. And I’d argue that AI fatigue, which can produce those zombie moments at deer and headlight moments, it isn’t necessarily about too much ai, right? It really isn’t.

[00:35:29] Uh, it’s about approaches to ai. Knowhow used the word deliberate when you’re setting AI strategy. It can’t be about too little progress. And the progress you do get way too slow. Strategies that are way too unfocused, untargeted. And all of that unfortunately comes with way too much hype. And we wonder why there’s a little bit of a, or maybe a lot of AI fatigue out there.

[00:35:50] And it’s also no wonder why some organizations approached AI can feel to the team like New Koch. You remember that? Karin, back in the day, back in the eighties when I do, Koch was rolled out and it was new Coke. It was gonna be better than ever. And at the end of the day, there was very little, it was not successful.

[00:36:08] Right? And went back to. Coke Classic, right? Well, to prevent our teams, going back to how work’s always been done. We can’t roll out new Coke. We’ve got to roll out a much smarter, deliberate, intentional approach. So, um, that’s what prompted my mind as I heard you reference moments. Any other takeaway? Do you wanna share Overall?

[00:36:30] Yeah. Yeah, there are actually two others. So one was this theme of touchless manufacturing and it came up both in No Ha’s session where she gave an example of one of the Gartner Top 25 that has really seen some vast improvements in the ability to do touchless manufacturing planning, so to plan their manufacturing operations.

[00:36:51] And then there was also a case study and some of the case studies at the supply chain planning summit were really good. One of the best ones I heard. Was from Kraft Heinz. Yep. And they talked about a touchless manufacturing planning process. But what I loved was the recommendations were so practical and they, I, I wrote this down and I wanted to share it with everyone.

[00:37:17] The speaker said we needed to go from fighting the solver. To improving the model, and I see that so often where companies will do a management override or they’ll plug data in instead of fixing the process or making sure that the process is modeled correctly or that the data. Is the right data to inform the model to produce the plan.

[00:37:43] They’ll do overrides. You can’t automate something. You continue to override. You can’t automate something that you’re plugging with spreadsheets. You can only automate when you’ve got a good, well-defined process. And so I thought this theme of tough touchless manufacturing planning that came up a couple of different times is really one we need to pay attention to.

[00:38:04] Yes. Well said Karin. Well said. Just like you can’t automate my golf game. Uh, bogies lots of exceptions out in the woods way too often. Uh, but who knows? AI’s making strides. I’ll tell you what, hour by hour our. Let’s see. I got one more if we have time. Oh, geez. Yeah. Karin, we got time. Yeah. One more. One more.

[00:38:24] So, um, there was a session and it was about the planning revolution. And since we’re talking about supply chain planning here, I thought it was really, um, appropriate and it is the rise of AI agents and supply chain planning. And this was delivered by Gartner Analyst John Schnuck. And this room was packed.

[00:38:42] I mean, it was standing room only and he. Outlined a very pragmatic approach to employing agent ai, which, you know, my, my simplistic, uh, description of agentic AI is taking both the thinking and action and automation. So taking a workflow of decisions. Small decisions together that impact the overall plan, but that Gartner is predicting that by 2033 that there will be 15% of AgTech AI deployments are gonna be fully autonomous.

[00:39:21] We are currently at less than 1%, I think that 15% by 2030, I think that they are sandbagging us. I think that number is gonna be at least twice that, so 30% or higher. From an autonomous perspective, but Gartner’s number right now for 2033 for full autonomous. Activity in a process for a specific process that that’s gonna be 15% by year 2033.

[00:39:52] Yep. I agree with you. And there’s two points that folks gotta take from your, uh, your takeaway there. Take from your takeaway. Number one, I think it’ll be more aggressive than that. Based on what we were talking about earlier where we don’t know what will be unlocked next week, much less next month, next year.

[00:40:11] So that velocity we’re seeing is gonna be faster, no doubt. And number two, that leads to the risk of those laggards that don’t get on the train the gap. Of competitive disadvantages between those companies that do lean into what’s possible today and make life easier and more achievable for not just their planners but their all their team members versus those that clinging to, I love Coca-Cola Classic.

[00:40:38] I love Diet Coke. I’m not picking on it, but the analogy comes to mind, folks that clinging to that Coca-Cola classic formula, how business has always been done, which has been successful, but it’s changing. It is changing and changing. It’s like the forward pass has been invented today and there’s still teams that run the triple option, but those that find truly success and championships that run the triple option, they’re not very prevalent and I’d rather take my chances via science versus via serendipity.

[00:41:08] Alright, so Karin, one more quick thing and then we’re gonna make sure folks on Connect with Karin and we’re gonna share a great resource, a timely. Resource where it’s not recency bias. And you, once y’all check it out, you see what I’m talking about. But one more thing that really rolled up into a greater theme that I think all of us are being impacted by Karin, one of the CEOs I interviewed at the summit there in Denver, and folks, you can learn a lot more about these interviews we had at the resource hub, the brand new resource hub@supplychainnow.com, and you can see the the written rundowns of many of these interviews Well.

[00:41:44] He shared EY McKenzie. Their research shows that large scale macro disruptions where they’ve accelerated dramatically. I feel that in my bones a hundred years ago. Such disruptions, according to the research occurred every five to 10 years. Fast forward to today, they happen three to five times per year.

[00:42:04] Those are macro disruptions folks, and those numbers. Given how they’re couched under that macro disruption umbrella. They don’t necessarily capture the headaches, tariffs, regulatory changes, and so many other headaches that are involved in our day to day. So in my view, that’s just reason number 4,236. We can’t continue to clinging the business as usual and our supply chain planners that are critical, talented parts of our ecosystems.

[00:42:34] The billion dollar question is how can we. Better use modern, innovative, truly AI driven technologies, not AI labels slapped on technology here and there, but the b and l question, how can we use modern day technology to give them time back? And Karin and Noha both mentioned, empower their decision making abilities faster, better, more confident, and more writer all the time.

[00:43:02] Yes. Bad grammar and all. Would you agree? Agree, correct. Three. All that sound good? No, I think that sounds wonderful. I would say more correct, but we’re also, so one of the things that AI is doing for us is it is not only giving us a better range of the plan, but it’s giving us better granularity so we can go deeper and have more precision.

[00:43:23] We can look at channel performance, we can look at customer needs, we can look at market dynamics. These are things that many supply chain practitioners have strived for. For decades, and it has been attainable, but it’s been hard to get there. And technology now that is in the marketplace and coming to the market is gonna do that for us faster again, so we can make more precise decisions or more rapid decisions with greater confidence.

[00:43:53] So not just the broad themes, but also kind of the deep precision that we’ve looked for. That’s right. Well said Karin. Very, uh, a lot of supply chain poetry in today’s discussion. But Karin, really quick for our share, this great resource new initiative for 2026, how can folks, if they wanna connect with you on anything you shared here today, or your upcoming event schedule, maybe they meet you in person or you name it, how can folks connect with you current?

[00:44:20] Yeah, the best way is through LinkedIn really. It’s a, it’s a great way for us to connect. We can converse there. We can schedule time or share ideas, so we’d love your feedback on today’s discussion or on maybe topics that we should dive into in the future. Please do. We’d love your feedback, your feedback folks, uh, around the world.

[00:44:39] Your feedback drives so many of our programming tweaks or new programming or adjustments on old programming topics, speakers, you name it, and we’d love to have you keep the input coming. Okay. So, Karin, you helped us speak of, you know, things we acted on last year, late last year, you helped us get a great new series off the ground, all focused on the Never Normal series.

[00:45:02] Now we talked on this a lot. You hosted a great panel in September. It featured five Dynamos from across Supply Chain, right? Rock and Roll Stars, C SEOs, and, and you name it. It was incredible. Got a ton of, uh, feedback around. So we’re like, you know what? We’re pretty smart around here and when we get good feedback, let’s do that again.

[00:45:22] So thanks to Karin and Jake and the team were able yesterday. Two kickoff, uh, sequel, um, to this never normal series. I featured these, this trio of dynamos right here, and I’m gonna share, you probably can’t see, uh, their names and titles. We had Mario Morhy, uh, vice President, integrated Planning with Sam’s Club.

[00:45:44] We had Rodrigo Alponti, senior Vice President, global Supply Chain was start a group. And we had Mike Gomes, vice President of Supply Chain North America with Proti Van Mail. Now, really quick on that last one, if you love Airheads, which is one of my favorite candies, that’s the company Proti Van Mail. They make lots of candies, but that’s one of the things him and Mike and his team, uh, produces.

[00:46:08] So folks, we had a lot of feedback just in the last 24 hours. And Karin, as I shared with you, pre-show one of our dear longtime fam members. I’m not gonna call him out, but Chuck, dear friend from the upstate of South Carolina, been in supply chain for a long time. He emailed me right after this, this panel yesterday and said, that’s the best one he’s seen of all time.

[00:46:31] And we had other feedback along those lines. So here’s the good news, Karin, all of y’all out there, you can go check out. The on demand replay of that session right there, you can go check out the session from September that Karin, uh, hosted. We’ve got blogs under the resource hub that will give us some key takeaways from, uh, Karin session and many others.

[00:46:56] Uh, and again, as always, let us know what you think. Don’t take what we say. We’d love to hear from you here today, Karin. I’m gonna give you the last word and then we’re gonna sign off here today. I’d just say it’s chapter two. Let’s add another chapter and keep these conversations going because that the panel that you put together was fantastic.

[00:47:15] They had great recommendations from their own career and what they’re seeing and the problems that they’re solving in the future, and how they’re motivating their teams. So it’s a great, listen. I, I highly recommend it. I’m with you. Maybe, uh, to your chapter two, mention, maybe we’ll treat it like Star Wars.

[00:47:31] We’ll have sequels, we’ll have prequels, we’ll have. Dozens of installments, but it really is, it was that good. And I probably walked away. I pick on the number 17 a lot, but I, I’ve had about 27, uh, pages of really been there, done that perspective Karin Bursa. As always, it was great to get into couple shows with you here this week, and of course, a great in-person event, uh, in Denver.

[00:47:55] Many, many more to come. Thanks for joining me here today. Uh, Karin. Thanks. It’s great to be with you, um, and share time with Noha, but also to be with this community of, uh, movers and shakers that are making supply chain happen around the globe. That’s right. Helping to make supply chain a great place to be.

[00:48:13] Uh, right. Yes. Um, alright. So big thanks Torin versus a big thanks as, uh, we all enjoyed Noha. Samara, the one and only senior director. Global supply chain at Gartner. Big thanks to Amanda and Tricia behind the scenes helping us to keep up. We stand on their shoulders from a production standpoint, so hopefully enjoy this conversation, folks.

[00:48:30] But you know the homework. Take one thing. Noha and Karin offered up so much actionable perspective. Take one thing, do something with it. It’s like what Mike Gomez posed to us yesterday. What are you going to do about it? Mm-hmm. It’s a great call to action. It’s about deeds, not words. That’s how we’re gonna drive transformation.

[00:48:48] Continue to drive transformation for our people in our industry. And on behalf the whole team here at Supply Chain Now, Scott Luton challenging. You do good. Get forward, be the change that’s needed. We’ll see next time right back here on Supply Chain Now. Thanks everybody. Join the Supply Chain Now community.

[00:49:04] For more supply chain perspectives, news and innovation, check out supplychainnow.com. Subscribe to Supply Chain Now on YouTube and follow and listen to Supply Chain Now wherever you get your podcasts.