In its February 2025 issue, The Wholesaler emphasized the current mindset of many companies in this business around artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced technologies. The editor and contributors were right to highlight concerns while encouraging business leaders to trust the process. 

I have spent most of my career dedicated to understanding the supply chain. As COO at PDI, an independently owned wholesale distributor and retailer in the Southeast, I have witnessed many changes in our industry. 

At PDI, our mission is to “provide a seamless experience that enhances the daily lives of our employees, customers and vendors.” We feel the best recipe for success in accomplishing this mission in today’s marketplace is to go all-in on modern tools and technologies that allow our people to remain committed to driving authentic partnerships. 

We may have once feared advanced technology taking over too much of our business, but thankfully, that worry has changed into a powerful tool for the distribution business. While many wholesalers embrace AI and machine-learning models to streamline efficiencies, others may still be dealing with legacy challenges.

Transitioning at the breakneck speed of tech is difficult but not impossible. Larger and well-resourced businesses experience the same pain points as smaller distributors, only on a bigger scale.

Over the past decade, our company has learned a lot from the traditional supply chain to a digitally integrated one. I’d like to share some insights and advice from this process that I hope will shine a light on where to invest in technology to optimize your operation.

Now is the time to act 

Companies still working within the confines of the legacy supply chain are lowering their competitive edge each year they don’t work toward digitizing their respective supply chains. Technology and business are moving so fast that any company delaying adaptation could suffer from hard-to-overcome or even permanent consequences. For those who find themselves facing this transition, get started with the process by addressing these key areas:

Identify areas of your legacy supply chain that can readily be digitized. Begin by listening to your customers and deeply understanding their needs. Seek to prioritize areas that provide immediate solutions while understanding how those short-term solutions will bring you closer to the long-term goal. 

Focus on areas such as inventory management, demand forecasting, warehouse operations, transportation and logistics, supplier management and data analysis. Aim to automate and streamline operational processes by leveraging real-time data across your supply chain. 

Secure a realistic budget for the tools needed right now. You don’t need to invest in the best-of-the-best technology right away — investing in technology and digitizing your supply chain is a perpetual journey. Secure internal buy-in through a realistic return on investment and build a timeline to that break-even point. 

Tackle any fears over emerging technologies. Focus your messaging on the benefits of how incorporating specific technologies will allow for more time gained by specific stakeholders. They can invest that gained time into furthering relationships with customers, other employees or vendor partners.

Make a plan and put the right players in place to execute it. Review the plan regularly, question the outcomes regularly and ensure you don’t lose sight of your short- and long-term objectives.

Work with your IT team to understand the functional requirements. If you don’t have an in-house IT team, invite knowledgeable and experienced external stakeholders into your business to help identify potential roadblocks. 

Communicate effectively and openly throughout the transition. If this is where you’re starting, then communicate clearly with your teams to ensure that all stakeholders understand the process, the purpose and the benefits of a fully digital supply chain. Transparency is the key to successful implementation. 

Be obsessed with your data

The next step is to get a hold of your data. Deeply understanding your data is vital to a well-functioning digital supply chain. The goal is to move away from planning for potential disruptions and start using real-time data and analysis to pivot and remain competitive when a disruption happens. 

At PDI, our infrastructure is built on data; it drives our future success or failure. Some business owners may be afraid to share their data, but the digital supply chain thrives on transparency. 

Data is king, so here are a few tips to ensure you’re maximizing its use: 

Feed your ERP system with clean, relevant and actionable data; this ensures you get relevant and actionable data in return.

Lean on AI and machine learning to mine and interpret data, and a business intelligence tool to bring the data to “life,” allowing for a higher level of conviction in the decision-making process. 

Try not to hoard your data, ignore it or be afraid to share it with your partners. However, do share information in a manner that keeps data privacy at the forefront.

Optimize your digital supply chain 

The hallmark of a strong digital supply chain is how it improves outcomes in other areas of business operations. For a company like PDI, where our market differentiator is how we partner with our customers to find the best solutions, optimizing our supply chain is a behind-the-scenes action that leads to better outcomes. 

You’ll know that you’re leveraging technology and data properly when you see the following results:

Fewer bottlenecks in the supply chain;

Increased deliverability;

Reduced costs to serve;

Higher customer satisfaction;

Greater transparency in your business; 

More data-driven decision-making at all levels in the organization.

Stay focused on your people

Technology is always changing, so we must be careful not to lose sight of what’s truly important in our business. At the end of the day, our industry is still relationship-driven. Every investment in technology should enhance the human experience. 

New tools should make the job easier and more seamless for employees, addressing internal pain points and removing barriers. Technology — especially emerging AI tools — should improve staff members’ ability to connect with customers, one another and vendor partners. 

As a leader, the most important factor is to ensure that we don’t feed any fears among our people, customers or vendors that a tech investment indicates we don’t want to invest in our people. That’s simply not a recipe for long-term success. 

Final thoughts

The traditional supply chain model is obsolete; it moves in a linear fashion and does not accommodate the multifaceted marketplace we operate in today. Everything is more complex than it was originally, yet AI and technology are somehow simplifying it again. 

Now that advanced technologies are more established, we must move into the acceptance stage and prove their effectiveness. Integrating these systems isn’t the way of the future — it’s the way of now. 

The reality is that AI is already walking side-by-side with you along your business journey. If you let it call the shots without strong guide rails in place, then you’re allowing those fears of the unknown to take over.

Distributors who have not yet transitioned should prioritize the change from analog legacy processes to an interconnected system. Good, well-managed data will empower any business to grow its most valuable assets while improving the bottom line and the customer’s experience.