Padhu Raman

At the Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit in Denver, Scott Luton sat down with Sean Elliott, CEO of ToolsGroup, to discuss why uncertainty is no longer something supply chain leaders should fear—and how the right technology can turn volatility into advantage. Elliott brings decades of experience across supply chain execution and planning, a background that shapes his pragmatic leadership philosophy. As he noted, bad plans can cripple even the best execution environments, just as poor execution can undermine well-crafted plans. ToolsGroup’s mission sits squarely at that intersection.   What Makes ToolsGroup Different Elliott described ToolsGroup as one of the few truly probabilistic planning providers in the market. While many vendors claim probabilistic capabilities, most stop at probabilistic forecasting. ToolsGroup goes further by embedding probabilistic thinking across the full breadth of its planning technology. The company’s belief is simple but powerful: uncertainty is not the enemy—it’s an asset. Rather than chasing forecast accuracy for its own sake, ToolsGroup focuses on business outcomes. What planning organizations really care about, Elliott argued, is having the right inventory in the right place at the right time to satisfy customers. Customer satisfaction—driven by availability, pricing, and service—is the ultimate goal. Probabilistic planning enables organizations to…

Special Guest Blog Post written by Karin Bursa, Founder and CEO of NIRAKIO and Supply Chain Now Host   Artificial intelligence is no longer a “what if” in supply chain — it is here. In fact, Gartner predicts that 50% of cross-functional supply chain management solutions will use intelligent agents to autonomously execute decisions in the ecosystem by 2030. But how do leaders move from hype to real impact? During our recent Supply Chain Now Power Panel, I asked five senior executives to share where they see AI making the biggest impact. Their answers revealed not just excitement, but a roadmap for how supply chains can evolve. Here is how they responded, in their own words. Q: Where do you see AI making the greatest impact in your supply chain? Eliza Simeonova – VP Global Supply, Mars Pet Nutrition “AI forces operational discipline. Clean data is no longer optional. The system itself demands it. I also see AI shaping supply chain synchronization — aligning suppliers, factories, warehouses, and customers in new ways.” Whitney Shlesinger – VP Global Planning & Logistics, McCormick “For me, it’s about people. Employees want to move beyond non-value-added work. AI allows us to free them up…