The complexity of modern supply chains has reached a critical point. With global networks spanning multiple systems, data sources, and stakeholders, organizations face unprecedented challenges in making timely, informed decisions. While data availability has grown exponentially, the ability to transform this data into actionable insights hasn’t kept pace. A new solution is emerging in the form of AI agents, serving as intelligent translators between complex data and business decisions. 2025 is being hailed as the ‘year of agents’ by the world’s biggest tech companies including Nvidia and OpenAI. AI agents represent a fundamental shift from traditional automation tools. These specialized digital systems can autonomously handle complex analytical tasks while collaborating with each other and human experts. Unlike simple automation tools that follow predefined rules, agents can learn, adapt and handle nuanced decision-making across the supply chain. Supply chains generate data across multiple systems – from ERP platforms to market data to macroeconomic indicators. While all this data could improve decision-making, organizations struggle to harmonize it effectively.

Full opinion : Adopting AI agents grounded domain knowledge, business rules and physical constraints while being flexible enough to adapt to changing conditions will mitigate supply chain risks.