Karan Agrawal

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…

Special Guest Blog Post written by Sofia Rivas Herrera   One of my greatest joys is travelling around the world; learning about other cultures, ways of living and traditions. I often say that “everything is supply chain”, and this topic is no exception. When we plan a trip, we first start by defining origin and destination followed by when we want to travel and how. Then we evaluate how much we want/can spend and identify our non-negotiables, which start reducing the horizon of combinations and options we have. Does this sound familiar? In my mind this is very similar to processes within planning, procurement, network optimization and supply chain strategy. Here are 5 questions travel-related that I loved to be asked to help prove my point of this connection with supply chain:   What is the best way to plan a trip?   Planning a trip is no different than planning a new distribution model or redesigning your network. This process can look a bit like this: Define your route; origin and destination Identify your constraints: budget, time available, level of convenience and comfort, Run your optimization scenarios From there, you identify available lanes, available modes of transport, and available…