Executive Commentary |
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independently— can orchestrate many steps simultaneously, select the best strategy and adapt as conditions change. For instance, it could reduce hours of manually checking freight management order confirmations to instants.
In the warehouse, increasing automation and robotics are beginning to generate richer data for more proactive support. For example, if the market sells out of a specific pair of sneakers while one customer still has full stock, we could flag a potential pricing or demand issue before they feel the impact.
If visibility has become a commodity, the value will come from what technology enables us to do with it. Doing business without AI will soon feel as unthinkable as operating without a computer. This is the most significant
C. H. Robinson
Rajan Arun
Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer www. chrobinson. com
As artificial intelligence transforms logistics, its impact depends on the application. Machine learning and generative AI have driven meaningful progress in dynamic predictions and automation. Agentic AI unlocked possibilities that were once out of reach. These systems don’ t just analyze data or generate content— they act autonomously to achieve goals much like a human would.
Agentic AI is remarkably capable, provided it’ s trained by logistics experts and operates with a deep, logistics-specific dataset. It can intelligently perform tasks across the lifecycle of a shipment, from price quotes to tracking updates to invoicing. It can handle tasks in different formats, whether that’ s email, voice or documents. It can interpret different kinds of data, connect data from different places, determine what’ s missing and go find it.
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transformation the industry has seen in decades, and AI is becoming interwoven into nearly every project we pursue.
Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals
Mark Baxa
President and CEO www. cscmp. org
Visibility is no longer the finish line— it’ s the starting point. Today, every serious supply chain organization can see its
It’ s also exceptionally fast and reliable. An AI agent for processing orders, for example, can process 20 orders simultaneously in 90 seconds— a person has to do it sequentially.
When it comes to applying agentic AI to different transportation modes, you’ re solving for varying levels of complexity. The trucking industry is highly fragmented, meaning you’ re potentially working with hundreds of thousands of carriers, but a truckload consists of just one customer’ s freight. In the lessthan-truckload market, there are only about 120 carriers— but trucks have to pick up multiple companies’ freight, which gets redistributed to other trucks once it gets to the terminal. For ocean shipping, a container’ s journey has multiple legs from door to port to door. Even something seemingly as simple as a price quote requires an AI agent to consider more variables and apply more reasoning.
Looking ahead, you’ ll see AI acting more predictively and proactively. As more shippers leverage an agentic supply chain, it will continuously think, learn and adapt. Supply chains will essentially be self-optimizing.
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“ Technology adds value by enhancing our greatest asset: human capability.”
Mark Baxa
“ Supply chains will essentially be self-optimizing.”
Rajan Arun
“ The accuracy and even legitimacy of real-time supply chain tracking data varies wildly by mode and geography.”
Mike Hane
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data, its inventory, and its partners. The real question is: what do we do with what we see? Technology adds value when it transforms visibility into understanding and action. Artificial intelligence, automation, and advanced analytics allow us not just to observe what’ s happening, but to anticipate what’ s next. They turn transparency into foresight— alerting us to risk before it becomes disruption, and revealing opportunities before competitors even notice.
Yet the greatest breakthroughs occur not from data alone, but from connection. Technology bridges supply chains into ecosystems— linking suppliers, shippers, logistics providers, and customers through trusted, shared information. It replaces reaction with collaboration, and isolation with orchestration. In that light, visibility is simply the window. Technology is the force that opens it wider— empowering people to make faster, smarter and more confident decisions that create value across the enterprise and for society at large.
Ultimately, technology adds value by enhancing our greatest asset: human capability. It enables us to lead with clarity, to serve with agility, and to shape a more resilient, responsive and responsible global supply chain.
Descartes
Mike Hane
Director, Product Marketing, Transportation Management www. descartes. com
Despite what some technology companies’ marketing content may suggest, supply chain visibility is not a commodity. The accuracy and even legitimacy of realtime supply chain tracking data varies wildly by mode and geography. Take the continuing growth of strategic freight fraud and cargo theft in North America today, where bad actors are impersonating legitimate carriers or brokers and sending spoofed tracking feeds that attempt to show compliant location updates while the physical load moves off network.
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