The same technology that powers the day-to-day supply chain must also be equipped to handle unexpected disruptions. In times of crisis — for instance, the 2021 Suez Canal blockage — partnerships between companies such as Cognizant and Boomi help ensure supply chains stay in motion.

Boomi’s Ed Macosky talks with theCUBE about the supply chain.

“When you’ve planned everything out, and an accident happens just like the Suez Canal, everything goes out the window, all your planning goes out the window,” said Pattabi Kannappah (pictured, second from left), AVP of client engagements at Cognizant. “Every day is billions of dollars lost. You need a fast platform, you need a ready platform like Boomi; otherwise, you can’t sustain the business.”

Kannappah spoke with theCUBE’s Savannah Peterson at Boomi World, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. He was joined by Prashant Gaonkar (far left), vice president of enterprise platform services at Cognizant, and Ed Macosky (second from right), chief product and technology officer of Boomi. They discussed how Boomi and Cognizant work together to manage supply chain challenges. (* Disclosure below.)

AI for supply chain management

Effective logistics planning hinges on knowing when goods will arrive and how they’ll move to their next destination—a challenge that grows more complex in global shipping, where cargo is offloaded by multiple ships at different ports. Getting containers onto trucks requires precise coordination, and solutions such as Boomi’s Agent Control Tower can bring the forecasting power to make it happen.

“Imagine each ship has an average of 12,000 containers … you need 6,000 truckers per ship,” Gaonkar explained. “You have to time it, you need to have a crystal ball, and then you have to route them properly. This is the next wave of [the Agent] Control Tower, those things where you are all evolving with Boomi.”

Gaonkar described a process where Cognizant is in continual communication with Macosky’s team at Boomi. The management of supply chain logistics for Cognizant’s clients generates constant data, and this information is helpful for Boomi to encode ideas and lessons into new product releases.

“Our product and engineering teams work very closely in this feedback loop where we’ll go to market together on automotive-based solutions or supply chain solutions that they build on top of our platform,” Macosky said. “If they hit any roadblocks or there’s new technologies they need from us … we work together, and then we deliver on our platform to help them drive solutions in the market.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Boomi World:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Boomi World. Neither Boomi LP, the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE