Trend Vision: Tesisquare makes AI for supply chain management pragmatic

Tesisquare provides supply chain software for leading companies such as Ducati, Tod’s and Whirlpool. Gianluca Giaccardi and Lorenzo Bollani observe that, due to disruptions, sustainability regulations and the unparalleled advancement of AI, the world has become more complex for these companies. In this Trend Vision, they explain how Tesisquare addresses these challenges and brings order to the increasing complexity of modern supply chain management.

Giaccardi and Bollani have been involved in the world of business software for quite some time and have helped numerous manufacturing and distribution companies improve their supply chain performance. The control tower and underlying software applications of Tesisquare are used by more than 250 companies worldwide. “I see that the challenges companies face have significantly increased over the past few years,” says Giaccardi. “Due to the pandemic and other disruptions, companies have become aware of the risks they face. They want to gain control by creating more insight into their supply chain. They want to identify supply problems as early as possible so that they can take measures to prevent them in time. Visibility and risk management are high on the agenda of boards.”

A third pillar

Another factor that has further increased the complexity of supply chain management is Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) legislation, adds his colleague Bollani. “Efficiency and service level were the main supply chain KPIs for customers for years. Now, a third dimension has been added, namely ensuring that your company is ESG-compliant. This goes beyond meeting the legal requirements set by the EU or other governments; consumers also want products to be sustainably produced. Society demands that companies are fully transparent about this, but that’s easier said than done. To achieve this, you need to be able to collect a lot of data from your chain and present it to various stakeholders in the right way.”

Navigating the AI jungle

To become agile, transparent and ESG-compliant, companies need to implement new systems that complement their existing IT landscape. This also leads to headaches in many boardrooms, because what kinds of applications should they be?! Giaccardi: “There is currently a tsunami of promising solutions in the field of artificial intelligence. Within Tesisquare we’re also developing these tools because AI is a perfect instrument in environments where you need to analyse lots of data and make optimal decisions automatically. Besides Tesisquare, though, there are so many other technology providers that companies struggle to find their way in the jungle of new AI applications.”

One point of contact

To address this, Tesisquare offers a software platform that includes not only its own applications for procurement, logistics and sales, but also third-party solutions. “Customers tell us what functionality they need, and we ensure that everything works together within one integrated system,” says Lorenzo. “We are continuously working to understand where the different AI types can be used within our products. Customers only see one interface and don’t need to delve into the underlying technology. Whether it’s AI applications, blockchain or integrations with chain partners, everything is managed and kept operational by us. It’s our mission to provide a pragmatic answer that generates real value and the customer has only one point of contact.”

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