Jesse Bailey

At Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo 2026 in Orlando, some of the sharpest minds in supply chain gathered to tackle one central question: what does the next operating model for supply chain actually look like? In a special livestream conversation, Scott Luton sat down with Mike Griswold, VP Analyst at Gartner, alongside fellow Supply Chain Now hosts Karin Bursa and Jake Barr, to unpack the biggest themes emerging from this year’s symposium. The consensus? Supply chain leaders are moving beyond AI fascination and toward something much bigger: redesigning how decisions, workflows, and organizations operate.   AI Is No Longer the Story. Outcomes Are One of the strongest themes from the event was a more mature, pragmatic approach to AI adoption. According to Mike Griswold, many organizations are finally moving past the “shock and awe” phase that dominated conversations a year ago. “People need to figure out exactly what problem or problems AI is going to solve for them,” Griswold explains. That may sound simple, but it represents a significant shift. Instead of experimenting with AI for AI’s sake, companies are becoming more disciplined about identifying operational value and measurable business outcomes. Griswold also warns against a familiar trap: creating “highly efficient…

When healthcare supply chains break down, the consequences are measured in more than missed delivery windows or higher procurement costs. They can show up as delayed procedures, frustrated clinical teams, wasted inventory, and, most importantly, compromised patient care. That urgency is at the center of a new Supply Chain Now conversation featuring Mark Holmes, Head of Global Supply Chain Market Strategy at InterSystems, and Michael LaRocca, Founder and CEO of Ready Computing. Together, they explore why healthcare organizations need a new level of supply chain intelligence—and how integrated data, automation, and AI can help hospitals move from reactive problem-solving to proactive orchestration. Why Healthcare Supply Chain Disruption Is Different In retail, a stockout may mean a customer chooses a different store. In healthcare, a missing item can mean a surgery is delayed or canceled. As Holmes puts it in the episode, not having the right product at the right time for the right procedure is a fundamentally different kind of failure—one that affects lives, outcomes, and hospital economics all at the same time. The business impact is significant. Holmes notes that globally, procedure cancellations related to supply availability can average around 10%, with some regions experiencing even higher rates. A…