How AI is Making Change Management More Important on Supply Chain and Procurement Projects

Across Australia and New Zealand, AI has quickly shifted from hype to reality. Supply chain teams are trialling demand forecasting algorithms that outperform traditional models. Procurement functions are using AI to automate spend analysis, flag risks in supplier contracts, and benchmark rates in near real time. For leaders, the promise of AI is compelling: reduced costs, greater agility, and sharper decision-making.

But here’s the catch. Technology alone does not deliver outcomes. AI tools may be smarter, faster, and more capable than past systems, but their value hinges on people and processes adapting around them. This makes change management – the structured approach to transitioning people, processes, and organisations – not less important in an AI-enabled world, but far more critical.

In fact, many organisations underestimate how disruptive AI can be. Unlike past IT projects, which largely digitised existing processes, AI changes how work is done, who does it, and what decisions they make. That’s why supply chain and procurement projects involving AI must now be approached with a much greater emphasis on change management, stakeholder engagement, and culture building.

The Shift AI Brings to Supply Chain and Procurement

AI is reshaping supply chain and procurement in several ways that directly impact people, roles, and ways of working.

1. Decision-Making Moves Closer to the Algorithm

Traditional supply chain planning relied on human analysts, planners, and category managers to make decisions based on data extracts and reports. With AI, models can generate forecasts, optimise networks, or suggest suppliers in seconds. This shifts decision-making closer to the algorithm, requiring humans to trust, validate, and act on recommendations.

2. Roles and Skills Are Changing

Procurement professionals are spending less time crunching data in Excel and more time interpreting insights, challenging assumptions, and engaging suppliers. Supply chain planners are moving from “manual adjustment” roles to scenario planners and risk managers. These are significant shifts in job scope, capability, and mindset.

3. Pace of Change Is Faster

AI deployments are not once-off system upgrades. They evolve rapidly as models are retrained, new data sources are added, and business needs shift. This constant iteration creates a rolling change environment rather than a “set and forget” model.

4. Expectations Are Higher

Executives expect AI projects to deliver tangible ROI quickly – sometimes within months, not years. Without effective change management, adoption lags, outcomes stall, and the technology is unfairly labelled a failure.

Why Change Management Matters More Than Ever

In this AI-driven landscape, change management isn’t a “nice to have.” It’s the difference between a successful transformation and another costly IT project that never delivers.

Driving Adoption and Trust

AI outputs can feel like a “black box” to users. Without explanation, teams may distrust recommendations, ignore alerts, or revert to old ways of working. Change management helps build confidence through education, transparency, and ongoing engagement.

Reshaping Roles and Responsibilities

AI doesn’t eliminate people; it redefines their value. Procurement officers may move from tactical purchasing to supplier strategy. Planners may shift from forecasting to risk scenario testing. Structured change management ensures role clarity, capability building, and alignment of expectations.

Embedding New Ways of Working

AI success relies on behavioural shifts: managers using dashboards daily, buyers trusting automated alerts, or operators escalating exceptions flagged by algorithms. Change management embeds these behaviours into the culture, turning adoption into habit.

Aligning Stakeholders

AI often impacts multiple functions – finance, IT, supply chain, procurement, operations. Without structured change management, misaligned expectations and competing priorities derail projects.

Sustaining Momentum

Unlike ERP implementations, AI systems evolve continuously. Change management provides governance and frameworks for ongoing adoption, retraining, and communication – keeping momentum alive well beyond go-live.

Key Change Management Challenges on AI Projects

Australian and New Zealand organisations face common hurdles when embedding AI in supply chain and procurement:

1. Resistance to Change
   – Employees worry AI will replace their roles or erode professional judgement.
2. Skills Gap
   – Teams may lack confidence in interpreting AI outputs or working with new digital tools.
3. Overestimation of AI’s Readiness
   – Leaders sometimes assume AI is “plug and play,” overlooking the organisational readiness required.
4. Cultural Barriers
   – Some workplaces prioritise experience and intuition over data-driven insights, slowing AI adoption.
5. Fragmented Ownership
   – With IT, procurement, and operations all involved, no single function drives holistic change.
6. Short-Termism
   – Pressure to prove quick results may lead to rushed deployments with poor change management foundations.

Best Practices for Change Management on AI-Enabled Projects

Organisations that thrive in AI-enabled supply chain and procurement transformations adopt structured change management practices.

1. Start with Clear Purpose and Vision

Employees need to know why AI is being introduced, not just what it does. Is the goal to improve service levels? Reduce costs? Enhance sustainability? Clear communication of purpose fosters alignment.

2. Engage Early and Often

Involving end-users in scoping, testing, and piloting builds ownership. Teams that feel consulted are far more likely to adopt.

3. Focus on Capability Building

Investing in training is critical. It’s not just about technical skills but also developing data literacy, critical thinking, and comfort with digital tools.

4. Make the “Black Box” Transparent

Explain how algorithms work in plain language. Provide evidence of accuracy. Use dashboards that highlight assumptions, confidence levels, and exceptions.

5. Redesign Roles and Processes

Don’t simply layer AI over existing ways of working. Revisit job descriptions, workflows, and decision rights to ensure the organisation supports new behaviours.

6. Build Governance Structures

Set up steering committees, user forums, and feedback loops. Change management is ongoing, not just at go-live.

7. Measure and Celebrate Adoption

Track not just technical performance but human adoption metrics – system usage rates, decision alignment, satisfaction. Celebrate early wins to reinforce positive behaviours.

The Link Between Change Management and Project ROI

Research consistently shows that projects with strong change management deliver higher ROI. In AI-enabled supply chain and procurement projects, the link is even clearer:

• Without adoption – algorithms go unused, insights are ignored, and the investment fails.
• With adoption – insights become embedded in daily decisions, productivity improves, and strategic outcomes are realised.

For boards and executives, this makes change management not a side cost but a core investment in ensuring ROI.

The Australian and New Zealand Context

AI adoption in supply chain and procurement is accelerating across Australia and New Zealand. Retailers are testing demand forecasting models. Universities are exploring AI for procurement spend categorisation. Mining companies are investing in AI-driven maintenance scheduling.

But many organisations face unique regional challenges:

• Talent shortages – limited availability of AI-ready supply chain talent.
• Budget scrutiny – projects must prove value in tight cost environments.
• Geographic spread – national networks with dispersed teams make consistent change management harder.
• Regulatory oversight – government agencies and public institutions require transparency and accountability in AI adoption.

These factors mean structured, pragmatic, and locally relevant change management is essential for ANZ organisations.

How Trace Consultants Can Help

At Trace Consultants, we understand that AI is reshaping supply chain and procurement – but technology is only half the story. The other half is people, processes, and culture.

We support Australian and New Zealand organisations by:

• Embedding structured change management in every supply chain and procurement transformation, ensuring adoption is built into the project plan, not bolted on at the end.
• Designing role and process transitions so that employees are clear on how their responsibilities evolve in an AI-enabled environment.
• Building capability and confidence in teams to interpret, trust, and act on AI insights.
• Engaging stakeholders across functions – procurement, operations, IT, finance – to align priorities and governance.
• Providing independent guidance – ensuring solutions are pragmatic, culturally aligned, and focused on measurable business outcomes.

Our approach blends deep operational knowledge of supply chain and procurement with proven change management frameworks. The result is not just technology adoption, but sustainable transformation.

Looking Forward – Change Management as a Competitive Advantage

In the coming years, AI will only become more embedded in supply chain and procurement. Those who treat change management as an afterthought will struggle with adoption, waste investment, and erode trust. Those who treat change management as a strategic enabler will unlock competitive advantage.

Effective change management means:

• Teams embrace AI as a tool, not a threat.
• Processes evolve to capture efficiency and agility.
• Organisations sustain momentum in a rapidly changing digital landscape.

For ANZ organisations, the competitive gap between those who invest in change management and those who don’t will grow wider.

AI is revolutionising supply chain and procurement, but the greatest barrier to success isn’t technology – it’s people. Change management is now more important than ever, ensuring that AI projects deliver on their promise of cost efficiency, agility, and improved outcomes.

For property-based businesses, retailers, healthcare providers, universities, government agencies, and manufacturers alike, the message is clear: don’t underestimate the human side of AI adoption.

At Trace Consultants, we help organisations across Australia and New Zealand bridge the gap between technology potential and business reality through structured, pragmatic, and effective change management.

The question is: as AI transforms your supply chain and procurement functions, are you managing the change – or is the change managing you?

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When we’re expecting a tradie to visit, we often spend a lot of time waiting around being unproductive…this is what happens at our loading docks too, but that lost productivity has much greater impacts on cost and customer service. Dock scheduling software is a game changer in this space, ensuring your dock managers know what to expect for the day, so they can adequately align the resources and capacity that is available to the activity expected on the Docks.  The key here is to allow the carriers to automatically book time in line with the operational policies of each site. This generates the expected demand and resource at your facilities – which is the catalyst for enabling the successful execution of subsequent back of house operations in the delivery of services to customers or end users.

In this article, we explore the two key scenarios that occur daily in loading docks across Australia, the impacts this has on your costs and efficiencies, and the how dock scheduling can provide a solution.

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Back-Of-House planning – where complexities arise

As a patron to sports stadiums, theatres, shopping centres or even airports, we often don’t consider the extensive back of house areas where goods are received, stored and staged, before we see them served to us. The effective management of back of house operations is crucial for balancing operational costs with customer service levels. We typically see two common challenges with loading docks: too many deliveries to handle at one time, or too many idle resources waiting for inbound deliveries.

Influx of deliveries exceed capacity

Where unexpected influxes of deliveries occur at once, many of these cannot be serviced which results in:

- Holding up drivers in queues for extended periods,

- Operational shortcuts and workarounds in an effort to process quicker (i.e. staff disregarding safety procedures, manually dismantling pallets where forklifts are unavailable),

- Congested processing and storage areas, creating a bottleneck in goods flow processes,

- Cold chain compliance risks, and

- Perpetual and compounding delays to BOH operations downstream of the loading dock.

Over committing resources to prepare for unexpected delivery volumes

When we don’t know what’s coming, we will tend to err on the side of caution and prepare for the most we think we need. Over investment in dock resources means:

- More congestion at the dock with under utilised people and equipment,

- Excessive labour costs and inflated cost to serve,

- Increased maintenance and upkeep costs, and

- Clustered and ad hoc deliveries at suboptimal times.

When we don’t lock in delivery times, suppliers and drivers will show up when it suits them – not when it aligns with our own operational needs and workflow efficiency. No schedule means no control, and the resulting impact this can then have on the operational value chain through to our customers is significant.

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Dock scheduling software as an enabler to strategic back of house design

A major enabler for combatting the above loading dock issues is distributing dock demand over the day to account for our capacity and align with our operational needs (e.g. for a hospitality business, we want our Loading Dock resources focused on processing fresh food deliveries  earlier in the day to allow kitchen production processes). This is where the concept of dock scheduling software comes in – by facilitating a scheduling system for truck arrivals to the dock, organisations can plan when suppliers will arrive and ensure there is appropriate space, equipment, and labour to receive goods and avoid queues and backlog.

Not only can dock scheduling keep your loading dock running smoothly, it also provides an opportunity to further optimise, such as reducing dock hours all together, and reducing manual administration requirements.

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Mobiledock – the Loading Dock Management software solution

Mobiledock is an Australian developed, highly configurable web-based Loading dock scheduling platform that provides ‘air traffic control’ for loading docks, transforming operations from bottlenecks into streamlined, secure, and synchronised logistics hubs.

Mobiledock provides:

• A comprehensive booking and automated approvals system that provides carriers with an instant confirmation of loading dock timeslots which are also optimise dock usage and labour hours.

• Real-time visibility on an intuitive timeline interface for dock staff and business managers to prepare for receival of goods

• Powerful reporting tools to gain insights and drive performance improvements such as arrival times and turnaround times across partners and dock operations

• Enhanced site security through pre-authorisations for drivers, contractors, and service agents requesting access to the loading docks.

• Easy appointment setting, freeing up time for higher-value tasks.

The cost benefit outcomes of implementing Mobiledock have proven substantial.

• Alignment of Loading Dock resources to “when” specific deliveries are needed

• Reduction in required manned hours on dock, significantly reducing labour costs

• Distributing arrival times leads to a reduction in required bays

• Scheduling through Mobiledock streamlines various methods of communication from suppliers, reducing manual hours and improving overall communication.

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With 32 retailers, 9 high rise buildings, and only one loading dock entrance, the 22-hectare Barangaroo precinct tackles loading dock administration with ease using Mobiledock automated entry processes.

“This enables the Dockmaster to focus on operations rather than conducting manual checks and administration. These advancements in technology get vehicles off the surrounding streets and into our facility […] reducing local road congestion.” – Mark Hedges, Property Services, Barangaroo.

To read more about the ‘Barangaroo Effect’, click here.

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Next steps

Trace Consultants is a trusted partner for organisations looking to optimise BOH operations through loading dock process optimisation and management systems. With experience across stadiums, integrated resort style precincts, event centres, hospitals, universities, and more, we can provide tailored solutions to meet your unique circumstances.

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Our Services Include:

• Dock layout design and optimisation

• Process mapping, review and optimisation

• Implementation and integration of dock management systems

• Customised training and change management for staff

• Performance monitoring and continuous improvement support

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To read about Mobiledock and proven implementation results, head to the Mobiledock website.

To discuss opportunities for dock scheduling software and other back of house optimisation strategies, contact us at Trace Consultants here.

How Data Is Reshaping Supply Chain Strategy in Australia

Co-authored by Pentify Insights and Trace Consultants

In the past few years, the importance of resilient, data-driven supply chains has shifted from a competitive advantage to a business imperative. The combination of global supply shocks, evolving customer expectations, and a more connected digital economy means Australian businesses can no longer afford to treat supply chain management and data analytics as separate conversations.

This joint piece by Pentify Insights and Trace Consultants explores how data is reshaping supply chain strategy across Australia. We’ll look at the current challenges, the role of data integration and visibility, and where businesses can focus their efforts for immediate impact.

The Current State of Supply Chain in Australia

Australia’s supply chains are unique. Distance, logistics complexity, reliance on imports, and regulatory frameworks all influence how local businesses manage sourcing, manufacturing, transport, and delivery.

Some of the key challenges facing Australian supply chains today include:

• Rising costs in freight, warehousing, and inventory management
• Labour shortages across logistics and transport sectors
• Limited visibility over multi-tier supplier networks
• Volatility in demand and disruptions to overseas sourcing

Despite growing investment in technology, many businesses still operate with fragmented systems. Procurement runs on email, warehousing data lives in spreadsheets, and transport performance is tracked manually or in disconnected tools.

This fragmentation makes it hard to:

• Track real-time inventory levels
• Predict bottlenecks or delays
• Optimise supplier or route decisions
• Make confident decisions based on the full picture

And this is where data strategy makes the difference.

Why Supply Chain Needs a Unified Data Strategy

A unified data strategy brings together information from across your supply chain, enabling you to:

• Improve visibility from supplier to customer
• Respond faster to disruptions or market changes
• Reduce manual effort through automation
• Unlock deeper insights to optimise operations

But getting there means more than plugging in a dashboard. It requires:

• Mapping current data flows and identifying gaps
• Connecting systems across procurement, inventory, transport, and finance
• Establishing clear metrics and KPIs
• Building trust in data quality across teams

This is the foundation of a supply chain that runs on insight, not instinct.

The Role of Data Integration

Pentify Insights and Trace Consultants have worked with Australian businesses who know their supply chains are too slow, too reactive, and too expensive, but don’t know where to start.

The answer is almost always the same: get your data working together.

What that looks like in practice:

• Connect your ERP, inventory system, and transport management system into one data platform
• Build automated data pipelines to pull updates in real time
• Set up alerts when metrics like stock-on-hand, lead times, or cost per order hit certain thresholds
• Create dashboards for different functions (finance, ops, warehouse, executive) from the same data source

Done right, this shifts reporting from monthly and reactive to live and proactive.

Where Supply Chain Leaders Are Focusing Their Data Efforts

We’re seeing the biggest gains from companies who focus their data efforts in the following areas:

1. Inventory Optimisation

Stockouts and overstock are two sides of the same problem: lack of accurate forecasting and visibility.

Using integrated data, businesses can:

• Align ordering to actual demand, not just forecasts
• Reduce excess stock while maintaining service levels
• Improve warehouse planning and working capital use

2. Supplier Performance

Too many businesses track supplier metrics manually or not at all.

With the right data, you can:

• Measure on-time delivery and lead time accuracy
• Track defect rates or returns by vendor
• Compare cost vs reliability across suppliers

3. Transport and Fulfilment

Data can help streamline delivery, reduce cost, and boost customer satisfaction.

Key metrics to monitor include:

• Freight cost per unit or per lane
• Delivery-in-full-on-time (DIFOT)
• Route performance and turnaround time

4. Risk and Resilience

After COVID, geopolitical shifts, and natural disasters, resilience is a board-level topic.

Data can help you:

• Model what-if scenarios for supplier or route disruption
• Score suppliers based on location, dependency, or risk exposure
• Create buffers where they matter most

Practical First Steps to Get Started

You don’t need a full transformation to see benefits. Start with the following steps:

1. Pick a priority area What’s costing you the most time, money, or frustration? Inventory, transport, or supplier performance are good starting points.

2. Map your data sources Where does data currently live? What’s missing? What’s manual?

3. Set a clear use case Don’t aim for perfection. Focus on solving one problem, like automating a key report or improving delivery tracking.

4. Build a scalable foundation Use cloud-based tools, modern ETL platforms, and warehouse options that will grow with your needs.

5. Involve the right people early Finance, ops, and procurement all need to be at the table.

Tools That Are Helping Australian Supply Chains

Tools & Platforms

Data Warehousing: BigQuery, Snowflake, Azure

ETL & Integration: Fivetran, Airbyte, Zapier, Stitch

Visualisation & BI: Power BI, Tableau, ThoughtSpot

ERP & Inventory: SAP, Oracle, Dynamics 365, NetSuite, MYOB Advanced, Unleashed, Cin7

Transport Management: MachShip, FreightExchange, TransVirtual

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Pentify helps integrate and visualise the data. Trace brings expertise in what the supply chain teams actually need to track, improve, and deliver.

What Good Looks Like

Here are outcomes we’ve helped drive:

• 70% faster access to delivery and cost data
• 90% reduction in manual report prep for logistics teams
• Live dashboards for finance, ops, and execs fed by the same source

These aren’t overnight fixes. But they are realistic outcomes with the right foundation.

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Final Thoughts

Australia’s supply chains aren’t getting simpler. But with the right data in the right hands, they can get smarter, faster, and more resilient.

Whether you’re a supply chain lead frustrated by manual tracking, or a CFO struggling to understand cost-to-serve, the path forward is the same: connect your data, align your teams, and focus on what you can improve next.

Pentify Insights brings the data and analytics expertise. Trace Consultants brings the operational experience and supply chain insight.

Together, we help Australian businesses turn supply chain noise into clarity, and results.

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