Supply Chain Technology: What's Overhyped and What's Actually Worth the Investment

Supply chain leaders are under constant pressure to identify which technologies are worth pursuing and which are generating more noise than results. The gap between what gets promoted at conferences and what actually improves operations is wide, and it's growing. To get a grounded perspective, we asked business and operations leaders across logistics, e-commerce, software, and services to weigh in on one overhyped technology and one underrated one. Their answers reveal a clear pattern: the tools that promise total transformation tend to fall short, while the unglamorous ones, like real-time visibility, exception management, and clean operational data, keep delivering. If you're tracking where supply chain investment is heading, the supply chain trends leaders are testing right now point in a similar direction, and so does the growing conversation around AI in supply chain management.

Here's what they shared:

• Blockchain Promises End-to-End Visibility It Can't Deliver on Its Own

• Predictive AI Forecasting Builds False Confidence in Complex Industries

• Last-Mile Drone Delivery Isn't as Scalable as the Headlines Suggest

• Blockchain Gets the Spotlight While Returns Technology Gets Overlooked

• Blockchain Provenance Adds Complexity Without Solving Price Transparency

• Agentic AI Grabs Attention While Control Towers Do the Real Work

• Autonomous Logistics Still Needs Human Judgment at the Edges

Blockchain Promises End-to-End Visibility It Can't Deliver on Its Own

When assessing supply chain technologies from an operations perspective, blockchain is one of the most overrated technologies. It can be valuable for some specific use cases that require narrow traceability but is commonly touted as a solution for establishing trust, visibility and coordination across the entire supply chain on its own. Supply chain leaders are implementing a greater focus on connected, end-to-end operational models, while McKinsey still indicates that fragmented data and legacy infrastructure represent a core barrier to achieving real visibility in the supply chain. Therefore, I am more skeptical of technologies that seem to be revolutionary but require all partners to change their behavior at the same time.

The most underrated areas are the data and execution layers of visibility: clean operational data; real-time exception management; and coordination through a control tower to enable people to make faster decisions. Ambient sensing and connected workforce technologies are highlighted in Gartner's 2025 list and as part of ASCM's 2026 trends, digital twins and interconnected networks are viewed as practical enablers of resilience, not as buzzwords. In my experience leading operations that rely heavily on dispatch and transportation, the most significant operational improvements often do not come from the largest or most sophisticated systems; they come from having the ability to identify the location of an asset, identify an exception as soon as possible, and providing an operator with a single location to make a quick decision. This approach typically leads to improved service levels.

Glenn Orloff, CEO, Metropolitan Shuttle

Predictive AI Forecasting Builds False Confidence in Complex Industries

I think predictive AI forecasting is over hyped for a number of reasons. In the cabinetry industry, there are typically many variables and long lead times, so even when you get your data into some sort of clean format, it's rarely stable enough to generate consistent and reliable output from an algorithm. I've seen numerous examples where forecast models failed as soon as supplier constraints changed or material costs shifted. To date, I have tested each tool against actual order flow, and each produces false confidence rather than actionable insight. Consequently, most lead companies to overstock their low-volume SKUs and underestimate demand for fast-moving ones. 

On the other hand, what I have found to be much more valuable and still very underutilized is real-time supplier visibility down to the operation level. This means that the production status of items being made, the availability of materials required to complete those items, and the shipping status of completed items will be continually updated and linked to live orders. With this type of information, I'm able to make quicker and more informed decisions regarding item allocations to customers, how best to communicate with them, and which price point to use based on changing market conditions. Forecasting attempts to predict uncertainty, while supplier visibility allows me to react to it. In my view, the ability to manage uncertainty through transparency in supply chain operations delivers superior performance in both cost control and customer satisfaction.

Josh Qian, COO and Co-Founder, LINQ Kitchen formerly BestOnlineCabinets

Last-Mile Drone Delivery Isn't as Scalable as the Headlines Suggest

The idea of drones or robots handling every last-mile delivery is fun to talk about, but I believe it is an overly hyped concept for most global companies today. Having shipped physical GPS hardware, I've seen firsthand the messiness of the real world that prevents this from being scalable. Regulation, theft risk, and the uncertainty of apartment or rural delivery locations indicate that the human factor is far more efficient than drone and robotic technology.

I also believe many underestimate the benefits of real-time data connectivity throughout the supply chain. Since we provide GPS hardware, we don't simply track whether a shipment was delivered; we can tell when the device first connects with a cell tower after reaching the end user. Continued usage and activation provide far more insight into supply chain performance than any traditional logistics report.

This became clear while reviewing return rates for international shipments. We realized that even if a shipment arrives on time, if the customer cannot utilize their purchase due to local network issues, the shipment effectively failed.

Alex Sarellas, Managing Partner & CEO, PAJ GPS

Blockchain Gets the Spotlight While Returns Technology Gets Overlooked

A couple of years ago, everyone was saying blockchain was the technology that would transform supply chain management because all steps in a product's lifecycle would be "transparent". However, most shoppers don't actually care about a digital ledger of every truck a package sat on. They simply want to know if their package will arrive on time.

The real under-appreciated technology is the one that manages consumer returns. Everyone wants to talk about sending products out the door, yet no one wants to talk about how returns eat away at margins. With bracket shopping (buying 2 or 3 sizes of merchandise, then returning 1-2) becoming a common occurrence, the companies that have automated, dead-simple return portals and fast refund tech are the ones winning. 

I've seen this firsthand through the data at CouponChief. We noticed that users were way more likely to use a coupon for a brand known for "no-hassle returns" than for a brand with a slightly better discount but a nightmare return policy.

Gary Gray, CEO, CouponChief.com

Blockchain Provenance Adds Complexity Without Solving Price Transparency

In my analysis of over 500 tour services and market distribution, I believe Blockchain-for-provenance is currently overhyped in the service supply chain—it often adds technical complexity without solving the core issue of opaque pricing.

Conversely, Geospatial Analytics combined with Open Market Data is significantly underrated. Our research at Intercoper, which identified a 10.7x price markup in European landmark ticketing (recently accepted for publication by American Business Magazine), proves that real transparency comes from analyzing real-time pricing inefficiencies rather than just tracking a ledger.

By using a modern data stack (Next.js/Sanity) to surface these geospatial analytics, we can restore consumer trust. As noted by industry leaders like Stasher, the future of the supply chain isn't just about moving products, but about price transparency and removing unnecessary intermediaries through data science.

Mario  Dalo, Founder at Intercoper | Digital Strategy & Research in Historical Tourism, Intercoper

Agentic AI Grabs Attention While Control Towers Do the Real Work

There is a lot of noise about the fully autonomous, AI-driven supply chain and Gartner's focus on agentic AI as the lead conversation for supply chain technology in 2025. Even both Deloitte and EY frame the upside potential of agentic AI within boundaries, such as workflows and guardrails, rather than as an independent network operating autonomously. The one area that continues to get overlooked is the less-glamorous, but critical, elements of real-time control towers and exception management that provide teams with the ability to identify delays, reroute inventory, and resolve handoffs prior to the occurrence of a service failure.

The drivers behind this evolution can be simply defined through an analysis of the market data. The highest-profile stories tend to attract the most attention; however, the application of tools that provide the most return on investment frequently include reducing response time and improving the efficiency of day-to-day operational decision making. Kearney further illustrates this point through their assessment of modern control towers. McKinsey is equally optimistic regarding the business case for digital twins; however, such business cases must be tied to specific operational improvements as opposed to being part of a much larger, all-inclusive transformational effort.

Dennis Holmes, CEO, Answer Our Phone

Autonomous Logistics Still Needs Human Judgment at the Edges

One supply chain technology trend I believe is overhyped is fully autonomous logistics and supply chain technology. The reason for this is that edge cases like weather, item handling, and unpredictable road situations still need human input.

On the other hand, a supply chain technology trend that is quite underrated would be a decision-making engine built on operational data, particularly in areas like pricing, supply chain execution, and workflow optimization. 

From my experience, humans excel in unstructured, real-time decisions, especially in transportation. However, in controlled environments like warehouses, there is a substantial opportunity to improve efficiency by removing repetitive work and supporting operators with better data and system-driven decisions.

Meet Guleria, Software Engineer, Rolls Right Industries Ltd.

The Bottom Line

Across these responses, a clear picture emerges. The technologies generating the most excitement, blockchain, autonomous delivery, and fully self-directed AI, face consistent real-world friction that slows or limits adoption. Meanwhile, the tools that improve how teams see, respond to, and manage day-to-day operations continue to deliver results without commanding the same attention.

Key takeaways:

• Blockchain appears multiple times as overhyped, with experts citing complexity, adoption barriers, and a mismatch between what it offers and what operators actually need

• Real-time visibility, at the supplier level, asset level, or control tower level, is the most consistently underrated category across contributors

• Predictive AI faces credibility challenges in industries with volatile data, long lead times, or unstable supplier conditions

• Returns management is a financially significant gap that gets far less attention than outbound logistics

• Human judgment remains essential in dynamic, unstructured environments, even as automation advances in controlled settings

• The technologies with the strongest ROI case tend to target specific operational improvements rather than broad transformation

FAQ

Why is blockchain considered overhyped in supply chain?

Blockchain requires broad partner adoption to function as advertised, which is a major adoption barrier in fragmented supply chains. It works for narrow traceability use cases but doesn't address the core challenges of real-time visibility, exception management, or operational coordination on its own. Most operators need faster decisions, not more comprehensive ledgers.

What does real-time supplier visibility actually mean in practice?

It means live, continuous updates on production status, material availability, and shipping progress, all linked directly to active orders. Rather than waiting for periodic reports, teams can see what's happening at the supplier level right now and adjust customer allocations, pricing, or communications accordingly.

Are predictive AI forecasting tools useful at all?

They can be, in the right context. Industries with stable data, shorter lead times, and fewer supplier variables tend to get more consistent results from forecasting models. In complex industries with many moving parts, like custom manufacturing or cabinetry, the models often produce false confidence rather than reliable output, particularly when conditions shift.

What is a supply chain control tower and why does it matter?

A control tower is a centralized platform that aggregates real-time operational data and gives teams a single place to monitor exceptions, identify delays, and make faster decisions. Its value isn't in the sophistication of the technology itself but in reducing response time when something goes wrong. Multiple contributors in this roundup identified it as one of the most underinvested tools in supply chain operations.