The crux of the issue comes down to time. Demands from customers put pressure on warehouse managers to find solutions quickly. Simultaneously, executives require accurate decisions to avoid future disruptions—a standard that takes time to meet.
Rather than making concessions on critical metrics, warehouse managers can use new strategies and technologies to execute their operations more intelligently. In other words, they can start managing a warehouse of tomorrow.
Comprehensive change like this can be complicated, especially in the mission-critical warehouses. However, we’ve reached an inflection point where the cost of inaction is detrimental to companies. The benefits far outweigh the costs, particularly as demands from customers and executives continue to grow stronger.
To ensure a successful, and effective, evolution of your warehouse, we’ve put together the most important philosophies a company can adopt before making any decisions on technology.
In the 2025 Supply Chain Compass: Spotlight on technology, better planning and predictability and better/faster decision-making were the most frequently noted advantages of AI at 37% and 36%, respectively. However, we believe this indicates a deficit of awareness of the vast impact of AI on supply chains. The tacit knowledge and trust that already exists throughout the warehouse is seen as much more valuable than unfamiliar technology.
Tacit knowledge must be universal
However, tacit knowledge in a handful of individuals won’t scale, not to mention leaves with the worker when they move on. And strategies built on one-dimensional reports can’t improve; they can only be repeated. To operate in a way that consistently improves, stays resilient in the face of disruptions and allows everyone across the supply chain access to the expertise of warehouse leadership, companies need the right technology. They need AI and AI agents to predict with precision and convert masses of raw data into timely, actionable insights.
The future of warehouses requires quick decisions made from all relevant data. The goal of AI solutions is not to make human strategies and problem-solving obsolete. Rather, the purpose is to make people more effective and more strategic in their impact . For example, rather than relying on an average picking time to plan daily operations, leaders can know the predicted time for specific items based on warehouse placement, time of day and other nuances that would be extremely difficult for a person to consider in a timely fashion.
Accurate predictions based on all the important context, not just averages from reports of the past, will provide companies with greater accuracy and insight to make more impactful decisions based on the current circumstances. Companies no longer need to rely on crude averages to act as their guide. The difference is subtle, but in a competitive marketplace, with unexpected disruptions happening more and more, that difference separates winners and losers.
