Last week at velocity 2025 in Chicago, we introduced Movement as a Decision Intelligence Platform for the modern supply chain. And more than 80 supply chain industry leaders gathered to explore how decision intelligence is transforming their supply chains to be smarter, faster, and more resilient.
The conversations went beyond high-level concepts to focus on real results and practical scenarios from companies across industries, showing exactly how they leverage project44’s Decision Intelligence Platform to lower costs, identify risks, and make informed decisions faster.
We covered a lot, but here are the five key insights that stood out:
1. Breaking supply chain silos with end-to-end visibility
Traditional supply chains operate in fragments—transportation teams use one system, warehousing another, and customer service yet another. This fragmentation creates blind spots that hurt both operational efficiency and customer experience.
The solution lies in end-to-end visibility that connects disparate data sources into a single, coherent view. When supply chain teams can see end-to-end shipment information in real-time, they can make faster, more informed decisions. This unified approach eliminates the time-consuming process of logging into multiple systems to answer basic questions about shipment status.
Companies like HelloFresh demonstrated how this works in practice, showing how they’ve unified middle and last mile visibility to manage complex perishable goods delivery. Similarly, global manufacturers like Alcon are connecting systems across multiple facilities to provide executives with instant access to shipment information that previously took hours to compile.
Project44’s Decision Intelligence Platform makes this possible by integrating data from carriers, warehouses, ERPs, and other critical systems. The result is a supply chain that operates as a connected ecosystem rather than isolated silos.
2. Shifting from reactive to proactive supply chain management
For decades, supply chain management has been primarily reactive, with teams responding to problems after they occur. This firefighting approach leads to higher costs, customer dissatisfaction, and operational strain.
Decision intelligence that proactively identifies these risks is changing this dynamic. By analyzing patterns in transportation data, weather conditions, carrier performance, and other variables, organizations can proactively identify disruptions before they impact their operations. This early warning system allows teams to take proactive measures, whether that’s rerouting shipments, adjusting production schedules, or communicating with customers about potential delays.
Organizations like Bunge and Eastman Chemical showcased how they’ve moved from reactive to proactive decisions, using AI-powered exception management to identify issues hours before they would traditionally surface. Companies are also leveraging weather data and disruption analytics to get ahead of major supply chain events.
The transformation from reactive to proactive decisions represents one of the most significant opportunities for supply chain improvement. Companies that master this transition can prevent problems rather than just solve them, leading to greater operational efficiency and strengthened customer relationships.
3. Converting supply chain data into measurable business value
Visibility alone isn’t enough—the real value comes from transforming supply chain data into actionable business insights.
With project44’s Decision Intelligence, companies can analyze data from the largest transportation network to optimize inventory levels, improve cash flow management, and make smarter sourcing decisions. By understanding true transit times and reliability patterns, businesses can reduce safety stock, switch to more cost-effective transportation modes, and negotiate better terms with suppliers.
The financial impact is substantial. Retailers like Tailored Brands shared how better forecasting helped them avoid excess inventory, while manufacturers like Alcon demonstrated significant cost savings by optimizing transportation modes. Companies across industries are reporting millions in cost savings through better inventory management, reduced expedited shipping, and improved operational efficiency.
Supply chain organizations are evolving from cost centers to profit drivers by leveraging data-driven decision making.
4. Elevating customer experience through supply chain transparency
Customer expectations have been shaped by companies like Amazon, creating demand for real-time visibility and proactive communication. This trend extends beyond e-commerce to B2B relationships, where buyers expect the same level of transparency and service.
Forward-thinking companies are using supply chain visibility as a competitive differentiator. By providing customers with direct access to shipment information and proactive notifications about delays, they’re reducing inbound inquiries while improving satisfaction.
Companies like IVECO Group illustrated this approach by connecting dealer portals directly to shipment tracking, while Bunge demonstrated how customer self-service capabilities can reduce operational burden. Self-service visibility portals allow customers to track their shipments independently, freeing up customer service teams to focus on higher-value activities.
This approach transforms supply chain visibility from an internal operational tool into an external customer experience enhancer.
5. Scaling operations with intelligent automation (Supply Chain AI)
Manual processes are the enemy of scale. As supply chains grow more complex, companies can’t simply hire more people to handle increased transaction volumes. The solution lies in intelligent automation that handles routine tasks while humans focus on strategic decision-making.
Supply Chain AI is revolutionizing supply chain operations. Exception management systems automatically flag potential issues and route them to the appropriate teams. Communication workflows send automated updates to carriers and customers. Yard management systems digitize previously manual tracking processes.
Leading companies shared examples of this transformation: HelloFresh demonstrated automated exception workflows and AI-powered customer communications, while Alcon showed how they’ve digitized yard operations across multiple facilities. Chemical manufacturers like Eastman are automating resource planning and carrier communications.
The goal isn’t to eliminate human involvement but to augment human capabilities with intelligent systems. When routine tasks are automated, supply chain professionals can focus on optimization, relationship management, and strategic planning.
The era of decision intelligence
These core insights represent more than incremental improvements—they signal a fundamental evolution in supply chain management. The concept of decision intelligence—the ability to connect data sources, see patterns and predictions, act on insights with confidence, and automate routine processes—is becoming the foundation of competitive advantage.
Organizations that embrace this transformation are seeing remarkable results: reduced costs, improved customer satisfaction, better operational efficiency, and increased agility. They’re moving beyond traditional supply chain metrics to measure business impact across the entire organization.
The future belongs to companies that can turn their supply chains into intelligent, connected networks capable of learning, adapting, and optimizing in real-time. As the presentations at velocity 2025 demonstrated, this future isn’t theory or a distant vision, it’s being built today by organizations willing to embrace the power of decision intelligence.
The message from velocity 2025 is clear: the age of reactive, siloed supply chain management is ending. The era of intelligent, connected, and automated supply chains has begun.
