October 27, 2026

Meet the Expert: Gerald JacksonRole: Vice President, Strategy, and SCM Solutions Evangelist at Oracle With decades of experience at the intersection of supply chain strategy, enterprise technology, and digital transformation, Gerald Jackson, Vice President of Supply Chain Solutions Strategy at Oracle, brings a wealth of industry knowledge to the conversation on supply chain resilience. His career spans influential leadership roles at some of the world’s most recognized technology and consulting organizations, including Oracle, Microsoft, Google, GE Digital, and Accenture. From leading global supply chain technology initiatives to advancing AI, industrial IoT, automation, and digital transformation, Jackson has worked across the systems and strategies that shape modern supply chain operations. His experience combines strategic leadership with practical execution, including product innovation, supply chain engineering, operational efficiency, and technology-driven business transformation. This breadth of experience provides a valuable perspective on how organizations can move beyond traditional visibility and build supply chains that are more intelligent, adaptive, and resilient. At TechSommet’s Digital Supply Chain & Resilience Virtual Summit – 2nd Edition 2026, Jackson shared his insights on a critical question facing today’s supply chain leaders: How can AI help organizations anticipate disruption, make better decisions, and respond before risks escalate? Supply chain disruption is no longer an occasional challenge. It has become part of the operating environment. For businesses, the real competitive advantage lies not just in identifying risks, but in responding to them faster and more intelligently. Disruption Is the New Operating Environment Jackson highlighted the growing impact of disruption on businesses. The figures he shared show a clear upward trend in revenue-impacting disruptions: These figures underline a critical shift: organizations can no longer treat disruption as an exception. They need systems that continuously identify risks, coordinate responses and adapt to changing conditions. Closing the Resilience Gap Supply chain resilience depends on reducing the time between detecting a potential disruption and completing a coordinated response. Jackson explained that the faster an organization can sense a risk, respond, adapt and learn, the better positioned it is to protect operations and maintain a competitive advantage. AI can support this process by helping teams interpret signals, evaluate potential risks and make decisions more quickly. Moving from Visibility to Intelligent Action Visibility helps organizations understand what is happening across their supply chains. However, visibility alone does not resolve disruptions. Jackson emphasized the importance of embedding AI into the foundational transactional layer of supply chain operations rather than isolating it in disconnected systems. With AI integrated into core workflows, organizations can connect operational information with external signals, identify anomalies and support more coordinated decision-making. AI agents can also use system memory and policy understanding to help teams recognize situations that traditional forecasts may not capture. The objective is to move from simply seeing problems to taking informed action. Predicting Disruptions Through AI Jackson discussed how AI can use system memory and policy understanding to identify anomalies and recognize signals that may indicate an emerging disruption. By combining operational context with external signals, organizations can improve their ability to anticipate potential risks before they fully materialize. This creates an opportunity to act earlier rather than waiting for a disruption to affect operations. Building Trust in AI-Driven Decisions AI-generated risk signals must be validated before organizations rely on them for critical decisions. Jackson emphasized the importance of checking information against multiple trusted sources to reduce the risk of inaccurate or unreliable outputs. He also discussed the potential for industry-wide trusted-data clearing houses that could help verify information using reliable sources, such as weather services and official international organizations. For supply chain leaders, the lesson is clear: AI-driven decisions require both intelligence and trustworthy evidence. The Way Forward Building a resilient supply chain requires more than better dashboards or greater visibility. It requires the ability to connect signals, interpret risks, coordinate decisions and learn continuously. Jackson’s insights highlight how AI, when embedded into core supply chain operations and supported by trusted data, can help organizations move toward faster, more informed and more adaptive decision-making. For procurement and supply chain leaders, the next step is to move beyond detecting disruption and build the capability to respond before it escalates. Watch the Full Session and Explore More Continue exploring the discussion and learn more about the summit: Explore more insights, upcoming events and industry conversations at techsommet.com.