Oracle India: AI Is Moving Supply Chains to the Heart of Business Strategy

In a conversation with CiOL, Madhukar Uniyal, Country Head - Solution Engineering, Cloud Applications at Oracle India, discusses how AI is reshaping supply chains from reactive systems to intelligent, adaptive networks. He shares insights on overcoming legacy challenges, embedding AI without adding complexity, and driving measurable business outcomes in a world of perpetual disruption. Excerpts.

From your viewpoint, can you give a sense of what has fundamentally changed in managing supply chains? Given that businesses grapple with rising volatility, supply chains are no longer just execution engines—they need to be fluid and primed for perpetual disruption. What is your reading here?

In my view, the most fundamental shift is that supply chains are no longer being treated as linear, back-end support functions. They’ve become central to business strategy. The operating environment has changed dramatically. Volatility is now constant, and disruptions—from geopolitical tensions to climate-related events—are no longer isolated incidents. As a result, supply chains must evolve from fixed systems of execution to intelligent, adaptive networks.

What this means in practice is that businesses need end-to-end visibility, real-time data, and the ability to simulate and respond to change dynamically. At Oracle, we are seeing organizations invest heavily in platforms that unify planning, procurement, logistics, and manufacturing to not only react faster but also anticipate shifts. The days of static quarterly plans are behind us. Success today hinges on how quickly and intelligently you can pivot when disruption hits.

How is AI truly transforming supply chains beyond the buzzwords, and what are some of the real-world challenges companies face when moving from legacy systems and reactive planning to AI-powered, connected decision-making?

AI is no longer just a buzzword in the supply chain space—it’s delivering real, measurable outcomes. At Oracle, we’re embedding AI across our Fusion Cloud Supply Chain & Manufacturing (SCM) platform to empower supply chain leaders with deeper visibility, smarter insights, and faster decision-making. Whether it’s predicting optimal shipping routes to avoid customs delays, identifying at-risk shipments in real time, or providing accurate delivery estimates, AI is helping our customers streamline operations and drive better customer experiences. We’re also seeing AI assist with sustainability goals through emissions calculators and improved efficiency in order management via automated summaries and intelligent item availability checks.

Having said that, the path to connected, AI-powered decision-making is not without its challenges. Many companies are still reliant on legacy systems and reactive planning, which creates silos and limits their ability to act on real-time insights. The real transformation happens when organizations shift from fragmented tools to a unified platform like Oracle Cloud SCM—one that not only connects every part of the supply chain but also augments human decision-making with AI-driven recommendations. Overcoming these barriers is key to building resilient, future-ready supply chains that can outpace disruption and adapt to rapidly changing global dynamics.

Today, there’s growing discussion around AI bridging talent shortages, especially in planning or procurement. But what parts of the supply chain still require human intuition?

The AI technology landscape is moving fast and has made significant strides in addressing operational gaps in supply chains, particularly in planning and procurement. Embedded AI agents in our Fusion Cloud Supply Chain applications are helping businesses automate negotiations, standardize product descriptions, simulate delivery dates, and optimize fulfilment. These capabilities are allowing teams to operate more efficiently and make better decisions faster. Additionally, AI agents specialize in tasks that typically require cognitive reasoning, such as answering complex questions, offering recommendations, and completing tasks on behalf of employees.

At the same time, Oracle’s latest AI-powered capabilities within Fusion Cloud SCM are helping supply chain leaders address long-standing operational bottlenecks and build greater resiliency into their networks. From optimizing shipping routes and predicting transit delays to automating trade incentive processing and summarizing complex order data, these features are driving more intelligent, responsive, and sustainable supply chains. By embedding AI directly into transportation, trade, and order management workflows, Oracle is enabling customers to reduce costs, improve delivery performance, and respond more dynamically to evolving market demands—all while enhancing customer satisfaction and supporting compliance across global operations. The human ability to assess risk appetite, balance priorities, and lead through uncertainty remains essential, even as AI supports and enhances those decisions.

As you would agree, many enterprises struggle to integrate AI without adding complexity. From what you’re seeing at Oracle—especially with Fusion Cloud Applications—what are some of the ways companies are simplifying this AI journey while still driving real impact?

One of the key reasons customers are able to adopt AI at scale with Oracle is because of how we’ve embedded it directly into the Fusion Cloud Applications suite. In fact, since the start of the cloud revolution, Oracle has embedded artificial intelligence and machine learning into our suite of supply chain management and manufacturing applications at no additional cost to customers. Rather than treating AI as a separate layer or tool, Oracle has made it a native part of the workflows our customers already use across finance, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. Starting in 2025, we have been giving our customers an opportunity to leverage the next great innovation—generative AI—by adding AI agents to our supply chain applications. Oracle’s AI agents provide human-like features such as memory, reasoning, and critical decision-making to deliver services customised to specific functions and parts of the business.

This significantly reduces complexity. For example, in our recent updates, customers are using prebuilt AI agents to help procurement teams draft negotiation summaries or assist supply chain planners with lead-time predictions without ever leaving the application.

The unified data model across Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications ensures AI operates on consistent, real-time enterprise data, eliminating the need for integrations or additional configuration. This means customers can deploy AI faster, with confidence, and focus on outcomes rather than infrastructure.

Can you talk about a recent instance where Oracle’s AI-powered solutions helped a customer navigate disruption or achieve a measurable outcome—beyond just efficiency gains?

Earlier this year, we introduced new AI-driven enhancements to Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain & Manufacturing that are helping customers do far more than automate operations—they’re improving agility and resilience. One standout example involves customers leveraging our AI capabilities in transportation and order management to better navigate global logistics disruptions. Using AI-generated transit time predictions and route simulations, they’ve been able to proactively reroute shipments to avoid congested ports and ensure timely deliveries.

Additionally, the ability to simulate item availability has enabled more accurate order promising, directly improving customer experience. In the realm of global trade management, AI has helped automate incentive tracking and accelerate duty drawback claims, leading to measurable cost savings. These are not just efficiency gains—they reflect strategic advantages in continuity, compliance, and service reliability. It’s a clear demonstration of how embedded AI, when thoughtfully deployed, becomes a lever for business growth and resilience.