Digital Supply Chains & Platforms
By Michael Hu · Jul 2018 Digital transformation?? Oh, not again! Everything seems to be a digital transformation today and there’s nothing left under the sun that hasn’t been written about such disruptive change. We felt the need to demystify digital transformation and separate the truths from the misconceptions based on our hands-on experience: (1)… Continue reading Eight Misconceptions of Going Digital
By Michael Hu · Apr 2018 While A.I. and machine learning has made rapid progress in consumer facing applications such as Amazon Alexa, playing Go, and making art, its deployment across the enterprise is still emerging and uneven. Opinions differ on the scope and pace of A.I. to automate and enhance activities across the organization.… Continue reading 4 Facts Every Business Leader Must Know About AI Automation
By Michael Hu · Apr 2018 AI is the darling of the moment and the corporate meme-stream. So much so, it’s forcing some CFOs into tough discussions with executive teams that are overly anxious to gamble with current assets in hopes of gaining future competitive advantages. How can companies avoid overspending in AI? AI certainly holds serious… Continue reading How to Avoid Overspending on AI
By Michael Hu · Apr 2018 Artificial intelligence (AI) is a fast-moving technology with a long road ahead of it. For all its surrounding hype, AI is still in its infancy. Intelligent systems have moved from simple, rule-based tasks such as spell-check into narrow machine-learning activities such as predictive maintenance and work automation, but they… Continue reading Will You Embrace AI Fast Enough?
By Michael Hu · Mar 2018 I gave a panel presentation at the Bernstein "Motor of eCommerce" Conference last week in London. We discussed two trends that will significantly impact on the eCommerce supply chain dynamics in the near term horizon Direct-to-Consumer: Brands across many categories are accelerating their pace of selling directly to consumer (DTC).… Continue reading Bernstein Motor of eCommerce Conference
By Michael Hu · Mar 2018 I held a podcast this week with Supply Chain Management Review on the topic of AI in Planning. We discussed the structural complexities facing demand and supply planning functions today and the imminent role of AI and machine learning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMt6P7PTjic&t=7s Key Takeaways Businesses across all sectors are pressuring supply chains… Continue reading AI in Supply Chain Planning – Podcast
By Michael Hu · Jul 2017 In our recent article “US E-Commerce Trends and Impact of Logistics”, we assess the current state of the last mile fulfillment market and key supply side drivers of eCommerce. The US eCommerce industry is expected to post 12-14% growth in 2017, from $375B to $420B. At this rate, eCommerce is… Continue reading US eCommerce and Impact on Logistics
By Michael Hu · Apr 2017 One question we often get from clients is “Will Amazon disrupt my sector next”? – be it in Fresh, CPG, Beauty, Apparel, or even Industrials. Amazon recently made several strategic moves, that taken in unison, strongly suggest that Fast Fashion is square and center in its disruption cross-hairs. Can… Continue reading Amazon the Zara Slayer
By Michael Hu · Feb 2017 Consumers today are spoiled for choice. No matter where they live they have at their fingertips a vast assortment of products, a wide array of delivery options, and a never-ending parade of exclusive products and special offers. The consumer journey is becoming increasingly frictionless thanks to advances in technologies and… Continue reading Building an Omnichannel Supply Chain for Brands & CPG
By Michael Hu · Jan 2017 AI progress has been uneven in the past 5 decades, with spurts of breakthrough followed by “winter-like” stagnation. Barriers like technology cost, organization capability and ineffective policies held back AI from going mainstream. Yet, this trend shifted starting in 2005 with performance breakthroughs across numerous cognitive applications. Convergent advances across… Continue reading Artificial Intelligence Coming of Age
By Michael Hu · Nov 2016 Last week, I facilitated a cross-functional workshop with The World Economic Forum, and several tech startups (Noodle A.I., Rage Framework, Enterra) to investigate the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on global production and value chain. WEF NY Workshop 1) The very definition of A.I. itself is vague - we… Continue reading AI + Future of Production with WEF
By Michael Hu · Jul 2016 Advances in smart automation is increasingly disrupting both B2B and B2C supply chains. The patterns of digital supply chain disruption will likely manifest in two waves. Wave 1: Localized Disruption In the next 3-7 years, supply chain functions such as planning or warehousing or delivery will be transformed by… Continue reading Patterns of Digital Supply Chain Disruption
Machine Intelligence has made significant advances recently in areas of supervised learning such as image and speech recognition, question & answering and shopping recommendation. These so called “weak A.I.” apps are expected to transform how consumers search, socialize and shop. Consumers are increasingly likely to ditch the current type & swipe, folder based apps on devices to a… Continue reading The Rise of A.I. Could Be the Fall of Uber
I had a great time as a guest lecturer at Babson College this week where we discussed best practices and emerging trends in omnichannel supply chain. Very engaging class and lively discussion. Key topics included: - The importance of fulfillment as a source of strategic differentiation - The need for segmented customer promise to define a… Continue reading Guest lecture at Babson
By Michael Hu · Mar 2016 I had a great experience co-presenting with Michael Kors, Google and Instacart on the topic of same day delivery at the 2016 GMA Supply Chain Conference last week. We discussed the underlying supply and demand side drivers of same day delivery and emerging models (see figure below). Here are a few key takeaways… Continue reading Same Day Delivery at TPA/GMA 2016