Supply Chain AI Can Scale the Data Problems Humans Used to Fix Artwork

Resilient Supply Chain — How Leaders Keep Business Moving

Resilient Supply Chain is for supply chain, operations, procurement and technology leaders who need practical ways to manage disruption, reduce risk and keep business moving.

Each Monday, technology and sustainability analyst, keynote speaker and former SAP Global VP Tom Raftery speaks with the executives, operators, founders and innovators redesigning how goods, information and decisions move through global supply chains.

These are candid conversations about what works in practice—not polished PR narratives or vague predictions. Guests explain how they are responding to supplier failures, geopolitical shocks, volatile costs, capacity constraints, changing regulations and rising pressure to improve both performance and sustainability.

The podcast examines:
Faster planning and decision-making under uncertainty
Supplier risk, sourcing strategy and business continuity
AI, automation, visibility and operational intelligence
Warehousing, logistics and fulfilment performance
Scope 3 emissions, circularity and responsible sourcing
The systems, incentives and organisational changes needed to turn data into action

The central question is simple: what helps a supply chain withstand disruption, adapt quickly and continue serving the business?

New episodes are published every Monday at 7am CET. Resilient Supply Chain+ subscribers also receive bonus analysis, highlights and briefings on emerging industry trends.

Follow Resilient Supply Chain for practical lessons from the people solving real operational problems—and building supply chains that perform when conditions do not go to plan.

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Resilient Supply Chain — How Leaders Keep Business Moving

Supply Chain AI Can Scale the Data Problems Humans Used to Fix

October 12, 2026 • Tom Raftery • Season 2 • Episode 144

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AI can make supply-chain decisions faster. It can also scale the data problems people have been quietly correcting for years. Once machines start acting rather than merely reporting, inconsistent definitions, missing context and weak governance become operational problems.

I speak with Sagar Paul, Chief Revenue and Growth Officer at The Modern Data Company, who brings nearly three decades across operations, enterprise data, manufacturing and supply chain. We look at what changes when AI in supply chain moves from helping humans interpret information to making decisions itself — and why that raises the stakes for procurement, manufacturing and operations.

We examine why “better data” depends on the decision being made, how tribal knowledge has been masking semantic inconsistencies, and why real-time data can become expensive noise rather than useful signal. We also challenge a dangerous assumption: that automating an existing process automatically improves it. Sometimes it simply automates the leakage.

Listen now to understand what your data needs to prove before you let machines act on it.

If disruption hit tomorrow, would you know where your supply chain was most exposed? In 15 minutes my free scorecard helps you assess 27 resilience statements, calculate your score, and turn the result into three priorities and a 30 day action plan. You can download the scorecard free at tomraftery.com/scorecard.

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I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's generous Subscribers:

Alicia Farag
Kieran Ognev
Gary Lynch

And remember you too can become a Resilient Supply Chain+ subscriber - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent episodes like this one and give you access to bonus episodes of topical, timely supply chain resilience analysis.

🎤 Looking for a keynote speaker on supply chain resilience, AI, and sustainability?
I help leaders understand the forces reshaping global supply chains, from geopolitical disruption and climate risk to AI and real-time decision-making.

Download my Speaker Pack: https://tinyurl.com/spkrpck

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If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - feel free to just send me a direct message on LinkedIn, or send me a message using this link.

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