 "CHAKRI GOTTEMUKKALA, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of o9 Solutions")
o9 Solutions is a US-based company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) for supply-chain planning and forecasting for international enterprises that include Marelli, Marks and Spencer, PepsiCo and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. The company is valued at more than $3.7 billion and in India it has offices in Bengaluru and Coimbatore where 1,980 employees and 23 interns work. CHAKRI GOTTEMUKKALA, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of o9 Solutions, met with Pranjal Sharma in Davos during the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting. Edited excerpts from an interview:
What challenges in supply chains is o9 is trying to address?
One major issue is value leakage, which occurs when silo-ed functions, planning horizons and technologies prevent organisations from making synchronised decisions at the optimal speed required. This fragmentation leads to inefficiencies, reactive processes, and lost value. Another critical challenge is external volatility. Companies must navigate disruptions caused by geopolitical events, supply chain shocks, climate change, and more, requiring them to act quickly and with agility.
Supply-chain complexity continues to grow. Multi-tier supplier networks, higher product variability and evolving customer needs make it increasingly difficult to maintain end-to-end visibility and operational efficiency. Organisations are also under pressure to embed sustainability in their operations. Meeting ESG (environmental, social, governance) goals while maintaining efficiency requires integrating sustainability metrics directly into planning and decision-making. Lastly, outdated and fragmented IT systems remain a significant barrier. Without real-time data access and collaboration, businesses struggle to respond optimally.
How does o9 work and support decision-making?
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The o9 Digital Brain is an AI-powered platform that centralises and enhances planning and decision-making across an organisation. At its core is the Enterprise Knowledge Graph (EKG), which acts as a digital twin of the company’s value chain. EKG integrates data from ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems, IoT (internet of things) devices, spreadsheets and external market intelligence to create a unified data model. This allows for fast, bi-directional propagation of plans and decisions between commercial, demand, supply and finance functions, as well as an organisation’s external partners. It enables businesses to simulate scenarios, predict risks, reap opportunities and make informed decisions faster with greater accuracy.
EKG enhances planning and decision-making by modeling complex interdependencies and providing near real-time scenario planning to assess financial, operational and environmental impacts. By ensuring all decision-makers work from a single source of truth it eliminates inefficiencies caused by silo-ed data. Additionally, its flexibility allows businesses to adapt as market conditions evolve, ensuring plans and decisions remain dynamic and data-driven.
What kind of technologies support your solutions?
o9’s platform is built on advanced technologies designed for scalability, flexibility, and seamless integration. It leverages AI and machine learning technologies to deliver predictive and prescriptive analytics, improving forecasting accuracy and enabling real-time demand-supply synchronization. Digital Brain is compatible with major Cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
Integration with existing ERP systems like SAP and Oracle is designed to be seamless. o9’s open architecture supports multiple integration methods, including APIs, Kafka streams, and low-code/no-code pipelines, ensuring businesses can connect their existing systems without requiring an IT overhaul. This modular approach allows companies to adopt o9’s capabilities at their own pace, minimizing disruption and implementation complexity while maximizing long-term flexibility.
Integrating supply- and demand-side decisions can be challenging within existing structures of enterprises. What is the advantage of such integration?
Integrating supply- and demand-side decision-making creates a single, unified view of business operations, allowing companies to respond more effectively to shifting demand and supply constraints. This alignment reduces inefficiencies such as trapped inventory and costly expedited shipping while improving overall planning accuracy. When marketing, production, and logistics operate in sync, organisations can optimise service levels, enhance customer satisfaction, and increase profitability.
This integration also supports proactive planning by enabling companies to identify risks earlier and simulate response strategies before disruptions occur. Additionally, businesses can achieve their sustainability goals more effectively by optimising resources, minimising waste and reducing their carbon footprint. Synchronising supply and demand ensures that products are available where and when they’re needed, helping companies build resilience, drive growth and enhance customer loyalty.
If decisions are made by the platform, what role would managers have?
Even as platforms like o9 automate planning and decision-making, managers remain central to strategic oversight. Their role shifts from manual tasks to guiding higher-level business strategies and policies, ensuring that platform-driven decisions align with company objectives. Managers shift their focus to exception management, addressing high-stakes or complex situations that require human judgment.
Additionally, managers act as change agents, driving the adoption of new technologies and fostering collaboration across teams. By breaking down silos and ensuring alignment across departments, they help organisations maximise the platform’s impact. Managers also focus on continuous improvement, using insights from the platform to refine processes, optimize operations, and identify new growth opportunities. Ultimately, they transform data-driven insights into actionable business strategies, ensuring the organisation fully capitalises on its digital transformation.
What kind of growth are you targeting in five years?
o9 aims to become the most value-creating enterprise planning platform, leading the digital transformation of integrated business planning and decision-making. The company’s vision is to help organisations solve their most complex supply-chain challenges through AI-driven, scalable solutions. Over the next five years, o9 plans to expand its global client base beyond the enterprises it currently serves, entering new industries. The company is focused on advancing generative AI and agentic AI, automation, and sustainability planning to further enhance its platform’s capabilities.
o9 is also accelerating the adoption of touchless planning, ESG metrics, multi-tier supply chain visibility (SRM), and revenue growth management (RGM) to help companies navigate increasing complexity and volatility. By continuing to innovate and deliver measurable value, o9 is positioning itself as the go-to platform for enterprise planning and decision-making.
