EXPERT COLUMN

BY ALIX PRESLEY OUR DIRECTOR OF

STRATEGIC CONTENT

According to Epicor research, AI adoption has been found to be driving smarter, more resilient supply chains. The survey shows the technology is no longer in the experimental stages, it is reshaping business models.

“ AI is becoming an essential tool in helping supply chain businesses anticipate and respond to inevitable change,” said Kerrie Jordan, Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President of Product at Epicor.“ We’ re seeing organisations unlock the agility needed to lead through disruption by not just deploying AI but by building a digital foundation and workforce behind it.”

Whether it’ s speeding up internal processes and creating efficiencies or being positioned at the heart of the world’ s first AI city set for completion in 2027, its wide-reaching advantages are undeniable.

To celebrate this tech evolution, the recent annual AI Awareness Day paid homage to its transformative capabilities, not to mention its positive influence on our daily lives, businesses and society.

Evan Reiss, VP, Head of Marketing at Foxit, appreciates AI Awareness Day as a timely reminder of the accelerating transformation of the workplace – and the need for the UK to remain a leader in this evolution.

“ The companies embedding AI into their workflows today are redefining their industries. With the rise of AI agents – systems that can act with instruction, memory and context – we’ re seeing the next wave of intelligent automation. These tools don’ t just support knowledge workers; they extend their capabilities,” said Reiss.

While one of the many notable advantages of AI is its

ability to take on laborious tasks like data handling – setting it apart from other emerging technologies on the market – like with any tech tool, there’ s bound to be debate and uncertainty.

Many have grappled with the implementation of AI due to ethical concerns around job replacement and the need to redesign business models.

Last year, in a bid to tackle and overcome AI inertia, Microsoft and LinkedIn investigated how AI will reshape work and the labour market by surveying 31,000 people across 31 countries.

The survey found 60 % of leaders worry their organisation’ s leadership lacks a plan and vision to implement AI.

This result highlights the very real concerns still present around the use of this technology and how best to utilise it. Echoing this sentiment is a study conducted by GoTo in partnership with research firm, Workplace Intelligence, revealing 86 % of employees say they aren’ t using it to its full potential, exposing a significant disparity between promise and practice.

So although the benefits of AI are well received, many still feel unprepared and understandably concerned about potential implications – by the same token, we mustn’ t let fear take hold and stand in the way of success. p

18 INTELLIGENTCIO APAC www. intelligentcio. com