Using artificial intelligence for data-driven supply chain management : a global ICT company case study

Abstract

The amount of digital data has grown exponentially in the past decade, leading to challenges in managing and analyzing data. People using the data face several data management problems, especially in the context of Supply Chain Management (SCM). The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) applications has become increasingly vital in SCM because digitalization has increased data amounts. This research aims to understand and propose solutions to the data management problems within the supply chain of a case company. The research addresses the problem of poor data availability and usability and examines the ethical and responsibility issues of AI.

The study combines three large concepts: artificial intelligence, supply chain management, and data-driven decision-making (DDDM). In addition to the literature, the data is collected by semi-structured interviews with 13 supply chain managers and three different AI companies. This case study research adopts a qualitative research approach and aligns with a pragmatic research philosophy. The study is framed to the delivery capability analysis and creation management in the case company.

The key findings of the study show that AI is a prerequisite for data-driven SCM and can improve data management. The research found that AI, DDDM, and SCM are closely connected since AI is one key enabler for DDDM, and DDDM is the enabler for data-driven SCM. The study reveals a high AI acceptance in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry and suggests that to integrate AI and human decision-makers, generative AI should be used as an adoption tool. Furthermore, the research found an urgent need for AI-based data management solutions in the case company and identified several use cases for AI. The research proposes training a self-hosted large language model (LLM) using open-source models to enable data-driven SCM within the case company or purchasing a customized tool from an external company such as Florida R&D Associates.