101 INDUSTRIALS & MANUFACTURING and resilience leads to compressed margins. In this constantly shifting environment, manufacturers are moving decisively away from reactive firefighting. Instead, they are deploying control towers for early warning detection, embedding scenario planning into everyday workflows and treating compliance as a core business function. “These changes are altering how industrials operate, driving a need for agility, transparency and proactive risk mitigation,” says Sircar. “In short, the supply chain has become a strategic channel for continuity, compliance and competitiveness – not just a back-office cost centre.” Microsoft’s work with manufacturers, partners and its own internal supply chain has led to the identification of five essential capabilities for resilience and sustainability: visibility and risk orchestration; AI-driven planning and adaptation; compliance and resource efficiency; cyber-resilient operations; and workforce enablement. “Our approach is grounded in our direct experience solving real-world challenges,” says Sircar. “At Microsoft, our role is to make the supply chain ecosystem work together.” That means unifying data foundations, applying Copilot and agentic AI to augment planners and operators, and offering a secure, composable platform for data, AI and agentic orchestration. A key part of this strategy is enabling customers and partners to interoperate through open standards and flexible architectures. When specialised capabilities are needed, organisations can pilot governed agents in Azure AI Foundry, connecting external and internal tools through the model context protocol and enabling agent-to-agent collaboration across the ecosystem. AI-driven scenario modelling is emerging as one of the most transformative capabilities in modern supply chains. Solutions like Blue Yonder’s agentic AI on Microsoft Photo: Adobe Stock/chokniti
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