Gartner: Supply chain GenAI productivity rises at individual level, creates organizational complications

Generative AI (GenAI) is in use by 72% of supply chain organizations, but most are experiencing middling results for productivity and ROI, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc.

The Gartner survey found that productivity gains from GenAI use for individual, desk-based workers are not translating to greater team-level productivity. Additionally, GenAI tool deployment is increasing anxiety among many employees, dampening their productivity.

Productivity paradox stumps supply chain organizations

Gartner said that chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) deploying GenAI need to shift from a sole focus on efficiency to a strategy that incorporates full organizational productivity. This strategy must better incorporate frontline workers, assuage growing employee anxieties from the use of GenAI tools and focus on use cases that promote creativity and innovation, rather than only on saving time.

"Early GenAI deployments within supply chain reveal a productivity paradox," said Sam Berndt, senior director in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice. "While its use has enhanced individual productivity for desk-based roles, these gains are not cascading through the rest of the function and are actually making the overall working environment worse for many employees. CSCOs need to retool their deployment strategies to address these negative outcomes.”

As part of the research, Gartner surveyed 265 global respondents in August 2024 to assess the impact of GenAI in supply chain organizations. In addition to the survey, Gartner conducted 75 qualitative interviews with supply chain leaders to gain deeper insights into the deployment and impact of GenAI on productivity, ROI and employee experience, focusing on both desk-based and frontline workers.

Gartner’s data showed increasing productivity from GenAI for desk-based workers, with GenAI tools saving 4.11 hours weekly for these employees. The time saved also correlated to increased output and higher quality work. However, these gains decreased when assessing team-level productivity. The amount of time saved declined to 1.5 hours per team member weekly, and there was no correlation to either improved output or higher quality of work (see Figure 1 below).

The deployment of GenAI in supply chain has brought with it several additional negative organizational impacts, including:

• Frontline workers have failed to make similar productivity gains as their desk-based counterparts, despite recording a similar amount of time savings from the use of GenAI tools.
• Employees report higher levels of anxiety as they are exposed to a growing number of GenAI tools at work, with the average supply chain employee now utilizing 3.6 GenAI tools on average.
• Higher anxiety among employees correlates to lower levels of overall productivity.

“In their pursuit of efficiency and time savings, CSCOs may be inadvertently creating a productivity ‘doom loop,’ whereby they continuously pilot new GenAI tools, increasing employee anxiety, which leads to lower levels of productivity,” Berndt said. “Rather than introducing even more GenAI tools into the work environment, CSCOs need to reexamine their overall strategy.”

Shift from individual efficiency to aligned organizational productivity

Based on the survey results, Gartner recommends shifting from focusing on individual productivity gains to an aligned organizational productivity approach. This approach prioritizes creativity-based use cases that enhance strategic thinking and innovation across the entire workforce, including frontline workers. These use cases encourage employees to utilize GenAI tools to approach their strategic tasks more thoughtfully, emphasizing those that incorporate interactions with direct peers and colleagues.

To achieve aligned organizational productivity, CSCOs need to rethink their GenAI strategy in three key areas:

• Use cases: By encouraging creativity-based GenAI use cases, supply chain teams can unlock multiple benefits beyond mere time savings. This includes better overall productivity (accomplishing tasks better, not just faster) and the ability to identify a broader set of use cases beyond a focus on time savings.
• Talent strategy: Employee upskilling must move beyond the use of GenAI tools in isolation. Employees need guidance on how to deliver on their new strategic tasks and make use of the time they are saving from the use GenAI tools.
• Management approach: Shift focus from measuring automation to measuring innovation. Metrics of concern should align with how GenAI is being applied to high-value tasks, new tasks created from GenAI and an orientation towards GenAI as a job creator, rather than an eliminator.