You have attended Kinexions before. How does this year’s event compare?
“I attended Kinexions during my first period at Kinaxis, but the growth has been mind-boggling. It is probably two-and-a-half to three times the size it was back then. It is a great testament to what Kinaxis has achieved over the past few years. It makes me incredibly excited about the future for both Kinaxis and our customers.”
AI dominates many conversations at the moment. How do you see its impact on supply chains?
“AI is everywhere. It is inevitable. It is already part of our personal lives and we are all experiencing what it can bring. Organisations are also beginning to understand what is possible. The lens through which we view AI is how it can transform the current state of business. That is what makes it so exciting to hear customers discussing real outcomes.
At the same time, many organisations have been experimenting with different platforms and technologies, and there has been some dissatisfaction with the value achieved so far. When you look deeper, it comes back to first principles and what I call the ‘physics of the enterprise. We want to combine that understanding with AI to transform how work gets done.”
Which themes are you particularly excited to discuss at Kinexions this year?
“There are several. First, the importance of the enterprise’s physics, its supply chain, in powering enterprise AI.
Second, we recognise that entropy exists in every organisation. Processes, data, systems and organisational structures only become more complex over time. Our approach is not about solving those issues one at a time. It is about organising around outcomes. We describe that as moving from decisions to outcomes.
Third is composability. I often use the analogy of Lego bricks. The same building blocks can support multiple outcomes. We want to provide those bricks while allowing customers to configure them according to their unique requirements.
The fourth element is recognising the skills that already exist within organisations. Those domain skills and operational expertise are often the secret sauce that differentiates businesses. We want to provide a framework that allows companies to incorporate those capabilities.
Finally, enterprise AI is not something that can simply be sold as a packaged product. It is a capability built alongside customers, which requires a very different engagement model.”
You have introduced the concept of Forward Deployed Engineering. What does that mean in practice?
“I had experience with this model in a previous role and saw how successful it could be. Forward Deployed Engineering is about bringing the very best technical talent directly into customer engagements to build solutions alongside them. However, we are taking it a step further.
Rather than providing individual resources, we provide POD structures. These are cross-functional teams with expertise spanning technology, domain knowledge and industry experience.
Customers are not simply receiving technical capability. They are receiving a commitment of capacity and expertise that can support them as they build what we call agentic organisations.”
How much of that approach is shaped by customer needs?
“A key characteristic of these teams is an entrepreneurial mindset focused on outcomes rather than software deployment. The second characteristic is consultation. It is not about arriving with a prescribed solution. It is about listening first, understanding the organisation and then developing the right approach together…”
Read the full interview here!
- AI in Supply Chain
- Together in Events