Supply chain’s new normal isn’t stability, it’s change

If supply chain leaders are still waiting for stability to return, they may be waiting a long time. “The new normal is chaos and change forever,” said Dan Cicerchi, gm of transportation management solutions business unit of Descartes Systems Group.

In an interview at the recent Gartner Supply Chain/Xpo Symposium in Orlando, Cicerchi said the market is increasingly being shaped by ongoing geopolitical disruption, shifting trade dynamics, and structural changes in transportation capacity, conditions that are forcing companies to rethink how they plan, operate, and invest in technology.

Volatility is reshaping global supply chains

“It creates complexity, urgency, and problems for different participants,” Cicerchi said, noting that these disruptions are forcing companies to make faster, more informed decisions about sourcing, routing, and transportation strategies.

In the U.S., those pressures are compounded by changes in the trucking market. Capacity is tightening, particularly as regulatory and labor dynamics reshape the available driver pool. “We’re certainly seeing truckload capacity leave the market, which ultimately is raising the rates,” Cicerchi said.

While higher rates may create short-term cost challenges for shippers, he noted that they could also stabilize the carrier market.

“Putting carriers in a better spot to actually run ultimately profitable businesses is good for everybody,” he said.

The ripple effects of disruption

Despite the turbulence, not every disruption has a cascading impact across the entire supply chain. For example, while port congestion and pricing can influence routing decisions, trucking spot rates alone are unlikely to drive major shifts in global sourcing strategies, Cicerchi said.

Instead, broader economic and demand trends are playing a larger role in shaping trade flows. One emerging factor is the rapid expansion of data center infrastructure, driven by AI adoption. “The data center buildup has had a dramatic effect on what’s getting imported and what’s getting managed domestically,” he said.

That shift is influencing not just freight volumes, but also the types of goods moving through global supply chains.

AI: Separating hype from value

Like most areas of supply chain technology, artificial intelligence is generating significant attention, and, in some cases, confusion.

“Unfortunately, more people [are] saying, ‘My CEO says we need to do AI. Tell me what you do with AI,’” Cicerchi said.

For Descartes, the approach is to redirect those conversations toward business outcomes rather than technology for its own sake. “Let’s go back to the conversations on business value,” he said. “Really good AI projects start with the outcome and then AI is a technical piece of the solution.”

That perspective reflects a broader industry shift. While AI has long been embedded in optimization tools such as routing, transportation management, and telematics, the latest wave of generative and agent-based AI is being applied to more targeted operational tasks.

One example is Descartes’ use of AI agents within its MacroPoint visibility platform.

“They’re replacing manual activities [such as] … validating that the driver’s arrived and reminding the driver to get proof of delivery,” Cicerchi said.

The impact has been measurable. “We’ve seen a million and a half phone calls [eliminated] already talking to drivers and carriers,” he added.

The key, he emphasized, is focusing AI on high-volume, repeatable tasks where automation can deliver immediate operational benefits.

Planning in an unpredictable world

For supply chain leaders, the challenge isn’t just reacting to disruption, it’s planning for a future that remains highly uncertain. As companies begin developing their 2027 strategies, Cicerchi argued that traditional static planning models are no longer sufficient.

“Having a plan that includes technology to enable you to make the right decisions as the pricing dynamics change almost hourly is important,” he said.  That means building more dynamic supply chain networks, both in terms of logistics partners and geographic sourcing options.

“How do we get more dynamic in our ecosystem of logistics partners and be more agile to go to another region?” he asked.

Recent tariff shifts and trade policy changes have reinforced that need, exposing the risks of overly rigid supply chain strategies. “[It was] a real gut punch to companies that really had more static planning and tools,” he said.

From data to decision-making

At the center of this shift is data, not just access to it, but the ability to operationalize it in real time. “It’s operationalizing the tools into your process so when changes happen, is just different insights from the data that you have,” Cicerchi said.

That requires tighter integration between technology and day-to-day workflows, ensuring that insights translate directly into action.

“Things are changing more now than ever and that’s the new normal,” he said.

Supply chains are no longer operating in cycles of disruption followed by stability. Instead, volatility has become a permanent feature of the landscape. For companies, that reality demands a shift in mindset from optimizing for efficiency under stable conditions to building systems that can continuously adapt.

It also requires a more disciplined approach to technology investment. Cicerchi said to start with the outcomes and find the technology that works.

In a world defined by constant change, the companies that succeed won’t be the ones with the most technology, but the ones that use it to make better decisions, faster.

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