Gartner Predicts 70% of Large Organizations Will Adopt AI-Based Supply Chain Forecasting to Predict Future Demand by 2030

Seventy percent of large-scale organizations will adopt AI-based forecasting to predict future demand by 2030, according to Gartner, Inc., a business technology and insights company.

Achieving touchless forecasting that eliminates the need for frequent manual inputs and regular human interventions provides a unique scalable automation opportunity within demand planning. By utilizing the underlying machine learning (ML) techniques, instead of traditional statistical engines, AI-based forecasting can enable organizations to achieve touchless forecasting and consistently obtain additional value with less risk of deterioration in the accuracy of outputs.

“The value of AI-based forecasting includes improved strategic decision making, faster responses to market changes, and enhanced collaboration workflows,” said Jan Snoeckx, Director Analyst in Gartner's Supply Chain practice. “To help drive successful adoption, planning leaders should clearly articulate a sense of urgency in pursuing touchless forecasting and place AI as a core element within their technology strategies, rather than as an add-on consideration.”

Snoeckx further stressed that supply chain planning (SCP) leaders’ articulation of a bold vision that demonstrates how AI advancements can transform the entire demand planning process, beyond baseline forecasting, is critical to drive successful adoption.

AI-based forecasting can dynamically detect complex patterns across time series data, enabling more frequent and granular forecasts. It can also learn from various datasets, which is required for making automated predictions on new product introductions and promotional initiatives that have limited or no historical data within a given dataset (see Figure 1). 

Despite its potential, adoption of touchless AI forecasting remains limited today. Broader adoption is often hindered by a lack of clear vision among SCP leaders and ongoing challenges with data completeness, availability, and accessibility. Additionally, process changes required for implementation can face resistance from employees accustomed to traditional forecasting practices.

To implement AI-based touchless forecasting, Gartner recommends SCP leaders follow this five-part plan:

1. Define a touchless forecasting vision. Analyze current collaboration processes, individual workflows, time lost to traditional methods, and the forecasting tools and systems in use, then identify specific areas for improvement and articulating the business case.
2. Establish the business change parameters. Identify the processes, workflows, and metrics that must be redefined to support touchless forecasting, making it a business-critical initiative that requires strong change management.
3. Define the touchless data strategy. Move beyond a sole reliance on historical sales data by developing a comprehensive data strategy that includes both internal and external sources. Engaging stakeholders, including trading partners, is essential to ensure data quality, governance, and recurring feeds.
4. Create a technology enablement roadmap. Transitioning to AI-based forecasting requires investment in technology and skills, which can be built internally or outsourced through supply chain planning solutions, analytics platforms, or forecasting-as-a-service models. Organizations should secure IT support and evaluate solutions based on engine performance, vendor expertise, and alignment with their data strategy.
5. Plan for the adoption journey. Successful touchless forecasting depends on organizational trust in AI-generated outputs, which requires ongoing communication about the inherent uncertainty in forecasting. Leaders should ensure results are explainable, benchmark AI forecasts against simple models, and highlight value-added contributions through regular analysis and reporting.

Gartner clients can read more in Achieve Scalable Productivity Gains With Touchless AI Supply Chain Forecasting. Nonclients can learn more in Supply Chain AI.

About Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit
Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit is the premier destination for supply chain planning leaders. In a world of geopolitical tensions, rising costs and heightened uncertainty, supply chain planning leaders must embrace innovative strategies to realize growth ambitions, make the right decisions and intensify alignment across the E2E supply chain. Today is the opportunity to elevate performance by embracing process and technology innovations while investing in talent and improving cross functional collaboration.

The next Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summits will take place in:
London: November 3-4
Denver: December 2-3

About Gartner AI Use Case Insights
Gartner AI Use Case Insights is an interactive tool that helps technology and business leaders efficiently discover, evaluate, and prioritize AI use cases to potentially pursue. Clients can search over 500 use cases (applications of AI in specific industries) and over 380 case studies (real world examples) based on industry, business function, and Gartner’s assessment of potential business value. Clients can access the interactive tool at https://tools.gartner.com/use-case-insights.