Transform Your Supply Chain Planning and Marketing Strategies with Google Cloud and SAP Integration
Transform Your Supply Chain Planning and Marketing Strategies with Google Cloud and SAP Integration
September 6, 2023 | Manju Devadas
Blog / Google Cloud Next 2023: The Supply Chain Transformation We’ve Been Awaiting
Imagine a world where your ERP could predict inventory needs based on real-time global events. A world where Salesforce and marketing data are integrated with external datasets to provide unprecedented insights into consumer behavior. Where you could ask, “How can I reduce shipping delays during the holiday season?” and receive an instant, actionable solution. That’s the promise of Generative AI.
Google Cloud Next 2023 made it abundantly clear: Generative AI isn’t just on the horizon; it’s here, and it’s revolutionizing the way enterprises work. Businesses no longer seek traditional answers; they demand insights that are sharper and solutions that are more agile.
As we engaged with customers during the event, their focus was unmistakable. They were eager to understand how to leverage Generative AI to tackle real-world challenges, particularly excess inventory.
The primary concerns were about consolidating vast datasets, ensuring data quality, and maintaining data security.
Pluto7’s Planning in a Box 3.0 is our tangible response to these challenges. At its foundation, the platform seamlessly consolidates varied data sources into a unified, singular view, leveraging the Google Cloud Cortex Framework. Once this foundation is set, a layer of Generative AI intelligence is added on top.
The result? Now, a demand planner can simply ask, “What’s the optimal inventory for the holidays?” and get an immediate answer without diving into spreadsheets or writing intricate lines of code.
As we unpack the key takeaways from this year’s event, let’s keep our focus on one central theme: simplicity in addressing supply chain challenges. With Google Cloud’s vision and Pluto7’s data platform Planning in a Box that can turn that vision into an everyday reality, the future of supply chain management seems not just promising but excitingly simple.
Google Cloud may have just launched its most powerful Gen AI tool yet – Duet AI. Already being hailed on social media as the evolution of ChatGPT, it is set to revolutionize how we interact with data. For instance, with just a simple prompt, Duet AI can autonomously craft a Google Slide, pulling relevant data from Drive and Gmail.
Now, what if you could bring this capability to your supply chain? Think of the efficiency leaps if a supply chain manager could, through a natural language interface, shoot questions about inventory, logistics, or procurement and receive prompt, precise answers.
Pluto7’s data platform, Planning in a Box taps into this potential. What it’s essentially doing? It’s blending human expertise with AI, streamlining decision-making.
With Vertex AI Search and Conversation, Google Cloud has taken a huge leap. No longer do businesses need to rely on complex tools for chatbots or custom search engines. Now, creating these tools is faster and more streamlined.
The real story? It’s becoming easier than ever to craft AI applications that respond like humans and with the precision enterprises need.
In the AI world, data quality is the first line of defense against the infamous hallucinations.
Planning in a Box prioritizes this, ensuring data quality from the get-go. By harnessing the power of the Cortex framework, the platform lays down a robust data foundation. And with Generative AI integrated, SQL queries transform into simple, human-like questions.
What’s the single most off-putting factor about ChatGPT? It doesn’t automatically understand your context. It responds but often misses what you’re truly looking for. It seems Google Cloud took note. Their PaLM2 foundational model appears to be one of the most refined large language models yet.
So, what’s the big deal for supply chain teams?
For one, language and document length barriers vanish. Supply chain groups, especially in inventory and forecasting, deal with diverse data – different languages, global sales, and multilingual market reviews. PaLM 2 ensures this data blends smoothly.
With the power to query longer contexts, teams can dive deeper into trends, seasonal changes, and past data. Predicting demand or spotting inventory issues becomes sharper.
In essence, Google Cloud’s Generative AI capabilities are getting more powerful, setting the stage for a faster, more comprehensive approach to supply chain data management.
At Google Cloud Next 2023, the spotlight was on refining Generative AI model outputs. The introduction of Automatic Metrics in Vertex AI ensures models are grounded with real-world expectations, using a “ground truth“ dataset. Meanwhile, Automatic Side by Side in Vertex AI steps in as an AI-backed referee, comparing outputs of various models, magnifying the process to augment human evaluation and ensure only the finest model outcomes.
Lastly, the new generation of Vertex AI Feature Store, now built on BigQuery, is all about efficiency and data integrity, designed meticulously to avoid data duplication while preserving access policies.
All in all, Google Cloud’s commitment is evident: building a Gen AI ecosystem with an unwavering emphasis on quality output.
For data analytics professionals, disparate tools are a headache. They mean juggling connectors, switching coding languages, and moving data between systems. All these complications also extend the time-to-value for businesses, making their data and AI investments less efficient.
Google Cloud Next brought a solution to the forefront with BigQuery Studio. This unified platform allows professionals to use SQL, Python, Spark, or even natural language directly within BigQuery. Beyond that, it promotes software development practices like CI/CD, ensures version histories, and applies consistent security policies.
What this translates to for businesses is a more streamlined data analysis process, faster insights, and, crucially, cost savings. For us at Pluto7, this means the ability to serve our customers with even greater precision and efficiency. With fewer barriers in data handling and processing, we can direct our focus on delivering actionable insights that truly make a difference.
Google Cloud Next revealed a critical upgrade in Dataplex: enhanced governance capabilities. These changes are aimed at providing better data lineage, quality, and metadata management. This is not just a feature addition; it’s a game-changer for businesses. It ensures that when AI/ML models are being crafted, they’re rooted in accurate, trusted data.
How does this change things for someone crafting AI/ML models?
Well, imagine working on a puzzle. Dataplex essentially ensures you’re not just getting all the right pieces but also a clear picture of where each piece comes from. And for AI/ML, that can be the difference between an accurate prediction and a missed opportunity.
For us at Pluto7, this ties directly into our ethos. Our data platform, Planning in a Box, operates with a glass-box approach. In simple terms, it means you can see, tweak, and understand every piece of data and its journey, eliminating any hidden surprises and bolstering confidence in the outcomes.
Businesses today grapple with data everywhere: from internal systems to external metrics. But the looming question haunting data leaders is: how to merge multiple data streams without triggering privacy alarms?
Google Cloud presents a breakthrough answer: Data clean rooms in BigQuery. As businesses hustle to merge their data with external pools for enriched insights, the need to safeguard sensitive information becomes vital. Data clean rooms create these sanctuaries for data, ensuring confidentiality even during intricate analyses.
For retailers, the advantage is clear: seamlessly merging point-of-sale data with marketing insights, enabling enhanced promotional strategies and deeper collaborations with Consumer Packaged Goods suppliers. All while ensuring data privacy remains uncompromised.
At Pluto7, data blending is right in the DNA of our data platform, Planning in a Box. We already integrate data from Oracle EBS, SAP, Salesforce, and more. With this new feature, we can go further, offering clients richer insights, all while upholding stringent data security standards.
Modernizing Oracle databases has been on the roadmap for many companies. Yet, many have postponed the shift due to the underlying complexities involved, especially when dealing with intricate components like stored procedures, triggers, and PL/SQL code.
Duet AI changes this narrative. It automates the conversion of these traditionally stubborn Oracle components, making the leap to Google Cloud more straightforward than ever. With this, Google Cloud showcases a clear intention: harness AI’s potential not just for analytics but also for simplifying database migrations.
And it’s not just about migration. Once the data is in Google Cloud, data platforms like Planning in a Box can seamlessly integrate Oracle data with other sources, such as Google Trends, market analytics, and even social media insights.
Imagine understanding a sudden spike in product demand by correlating it with trending discussions on social platforms or fine-tuning inventory based on both past sales data from Oracle and current market sentiments from Google Trends.
The core takeaway? No longer are Oracle databases bound by legacy constraints; with AI-driven modernization, a world of data innovation awaits.
Sustainability is a top concern for business leaders at Google Cloud Next 2023. Recognizing this, the Google Maps Platform team has rolled out a suite of Environment APIs that cover solar energy potential, air quality, and pollen counts.
What does this mean in practice? Imagine predicting energy consumption based on solar potential or understanding how air quality could impact outdoor events.
At the heart of this innovation lies Planning in a Box. By integrating BigQuery and Google Earth Engine, it dives deep into geospatial analytics.
As our final and perhaps most compelling point, the launch of Google’s Data and AI Cloud for Supply Chain is set to radically speed up solutions to supply chain challenges. Why? Because it comes with built-in use cases designed specifically for supply chain issues:
Pluto7’s Data Platform, Planning in a Box, then amplifies this advantage, fully exploiting the capabilities of Google Cloud to offer deeper insights and even more seamless integrations.
The landscape of supply chain management, as revealed at Google Cloud Next 2023, is being reimagined at its very core. Duet AI streamlines migration, BigQuery’s Data Clean Room offers unmatched insights, and Google’s Data and AI Cloud for Supply Chain equips businesses to tackle challenges head-on.
As a premier Google Cloud Partner, Pluto7’s expertise lies in not just understanding but effectively harnessing Google Cloud’s capabilities.
Our strength extends across the entire data journey: from ingesting multiple, disparate data sources and integrating them seamlessly into Google Cloud to creating use-case-driven Gen AI models. We tap into the powerful suite of Google Cloud’s tools, like BigQuery and Vertex AI, to deep dive into vast datasets, extracting actionable insights.
The bottom line? With the right partner and platform, the next era of supply chain efficiency, marked by agility, precision, and foresight, is not just an aspiration—it’s within reach.
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