?? The Supply Chain AI Dilemma: Can We Ever Break Free from Excel?
Alex Rotenberg
Leveraging exponential technology to digitalize the worlds supply chains, one customer and one industry at a time
?? Why Excel Has Dominated Supply Chain Management for So Long
Before we discuss whether Excel should be eliminated, we need to recognize why it became so dominant in supply chain operations:
?? 1?? Human Control & Familiarity – Supply chain professionals trust Excel because they can see, manipulate, and validate data themselves. AI systems, in contrast, often feel like black boxes, making decision-makers hesitant to rely on them.
?? 2?? Flexibility to Work Offline – Many enterprise systems require constant connectivity, but supply chain professionals often work on the go, in factories, or during system downtimes.
?? 3?? Easier to Customize for Specific Needs – If a report, forecast, or model needs to be adjusted, Excel allows instant customization—while enterprise solutions often require IT intervention or vendor support.
?? 4?? Immediate Access to the Right Data – ERP and supply chain systems often require waiting on reports or navigating access restrictions.
?? 5?? Performance Advantages Over Some Enterprise Systems – Many supply chain platforms are clunky, slow, and require heavy data processing. When systems lag or fail, Excel remains a fast, reliable fallback.
?? The Problem? What Made Excel Powerful Is Now a Bottleneck.
While Excel solved past challenges, it now creates new ones—preventing automation, AI, and real-time collaboration from taking hold.
?? The Real Reason Supply Chain Automation Has Failed is not only the fact the scripts lacked flexibility
For years, companies have poured billions into digital transformation, supply chain automation, and now AI. Yet, many still struggle to achieve workflow automation.
Why? Because the biggest blockers of automation aren’t technical—they’re human behaviors and the data access and sharing challenges they create.
?? The Two Core Problems Preventing Workflow Automation in Supply Chain
?? 1?? The Human Propensity to Work Offline (Especially in Excel & Email)
?? 2?? The Unstructured & Inaccessible Data from Offline Workflows
?? The Result? AI and automation learning curves are slow—not because AI isn’t capable, but because the data it needs is buried in disconnected spreadsheets and email threads.
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?? Real-World Examples: How Excel & Offline Work Have Blocked AI in Supply Chains
AI-driven supply chain automation fails, not because AI is inadequate, but because key decisions still happen offline, making data invisible, fragmented, and unreliable.
?? 1?? Retail: AI-driven forecasting fails because planners manually override forecasts in Excel.
?? 2?? Automotive: AI-powered supplier risk assessments fail because key evaluations are buried in emails.
?? 3?? Consumer Electronics: Automated procurement breaks down because suppliers send bids via Excel attachments.
?? 4?? Pharmaceutical: AI-driven demand sensing collapses because critical customer insights stay in spreadsheets.
?? 5?? Logistics: AI-powered route optimization fails because dispatchers manually change routes in Excel.
?? Common Theme? AI can’t automate what it can’t see.
?? The Middle Ground: AI Should Learn First, Gain trust, then gradually get Adopted where it makes sense
Instead of eliminating Excel overnight, companies should:
? Let AI learn from human decisions
? Ensure all critical decisions are logged in structured, AI-accessible systems.
? Gradually expand AI’s autonomy as trust and accuracy improve.
?? Bottom Line: Until we solve the offline decision-making problem, AI will remain a powerful but underutilized tool in supply chains.
?? Ready to Break Free from Excel? Let’s Debate.
?? What’s the biggest blocker for AI adoption in your company?
?? Should we eliminate Excel completely, or should AI first learn from it?
?? How do we convince supply chain teams to trust AI-powered decisions?
?? Drop your thoughts below! Let’s break this debate wide open. ??
Chief Marketing Officer | 4x Vice President Marketing | Strategic Growth | Change Catalyst | Supply Chain | Manufacturing | SaaS
2 周Excel's been around 40 years. And there's a lot you can do with it. But as you state, it creates silos of data within a company. And if someone leaves, so do the sheets. AI will take intentional learning and each use case can be different. It will be interesting to see how it develops. Especially as the gap widens between those who embrace it and those who don't.
Founder of Brilliancy Deep Tech | World Class Complexity Scientist | Board Member | Quantum | Expert in Artificial Super Intelligence | Cyber Security | Supply Chain | Inventor | Blockchain | Futurist | Keynote Speaker
2 周I solved this problem. Philip Abraham ~ Strategy Jaime Campos Flores
Leveraging exponential technology to digitalize the worlds supply chains, one customer and one industry at a time
2 周So, what’s the real answer? Should we eliminate Excel or find a way to integrate it into AI workflows? ?? Is full AI-driven automation possible, or will human planners always want a “manual override”? ?? How can AI gain the trust of supply chain professionals who are used to Excel?