Achilles launches risk screening tool as supply-chain visibility gaps persist

Achilles is trying to sell a remedy for a problem its own research says most companies have not yet solved. ITLN reported on 2 July 2026 (itln.in) that the supply-chain risk specialist had launched “Achilles Risk Screening”, an AI-assisted tool meant to identify supplier-risk exposure earlier across larg...

e vendor bases. Less than two months later, India Shipping News reported on 1 September (indiashippingnews.com) that Achilles’ latest survey had found only 2% of organisations had fully integrated AI across procurement, supplier-risk or sustainability work, even though 37% were already piloting, operationalising or deploying it in some form. India Shipping News said the poll covered 2,805 organisations in Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, the Middle East, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK (indiashippingnews.com).

The deeper issue is visibility, not enthusiasm. AJOT reported in March (ajot.com) that only 6% of organisations said they had full sight of Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers, while nearly half had limited or no visibility beyond immediate vendors. The same report said just 18% were very confident in the accuracy of supplier-reported safety data, almost 60% were concerned about the long-term availability of specialised suppliers, and 64% believed suppliers were only moderately or mostly prepared to meet tougher environmental and safety standards; only 11% thought they were fully prepared (ajot.com). Adam Whitfield, Achilles’ head of global compliance and ESG, told AJOT (ajot.com): “Supply chains today are more complex, more interconnected and more exposed to disruption than ever before.”

Against that backdrop, the AI numbers look less like a technology boom than a cautious operational shift. India Shipping News said 45% of respondents held a favourable view of AI in procurement and 7% a negative one, with the most common uses centred on process automation, virtual assistants, chatbots, supplier management and risk mitigation (indiashippingnews.com). Procurement Magazine, in an 11 August write-up (procurementmag.com), cast the mood as one where “optimism outweighs scepticism”, while noting that enterprise-wide integration remains rare. Sector performance was uneven: India Shipping News and Procurement Magazine both said information technology led adoption at 62%, marine transport stood at 56%, and ground transport lagged at 26% (indiashippingnews.com).

Whitfield’s central warning, repeated across the coverage, is that bad data will simply produce faster bad decisions. Procurement Magazine quoted him as saying (procurementmag.com): “AI is no longer a talking point in procurement; it is being put to work.” But he added that “full deployment is still rare” and that, “If the foundations are wrong, AI simply scales the problem” (procurementmag.com). Machine Maker, which revisited the findings on 28 August (themachinemaker.com), stressed the same practical obstacles: shortages in internal skills and data-science expertise, difficulty linking AI to legacy systems and ERP platforms, poor-quality or incomplete data, and a failure in some businesses to treat AI as a strategic priority. Machine Maker also said Achilles presents itself as operating in more than 140 countries, linking buyers and suppliers across multiple industries (themachinemaker.com).

The maritime slice of the research shows why the data problem matters. PeopleTech Maritime reported on 19 May (peopletechmaritime.com) that three quarters of maritime respondents had only partial or limited visibility across their supplier networks, and more than half expected supply-chain risk to rise over the following 12 to 24 months. It said most disruption had so far been classed as minor or occasional, but a small proportion of organisations had already suffered high-impact events costing more than $10m (peopletechmaritime.com). The publication pointed to instability in the Red Sea and tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, which had forced some operators to reroute vessels, change schedules and switch suppliers at short notice (peopletechmaritime.com). It also found sustainability remained a significant priority in maritime, scoring 7.4 out of 10 on average, with customer expectations and carbon-reduction goals proving stronger drivers than regulation (peopletechmaritime.com).

That maritime picture is also a reminder that aggregate AI adoption figures can hide uneven maturity. While the broader Achilles dataset put marine transport second only to IT at 56% adoption (indiashippingnews.com), PeopleTech Maritime said that within its maritime cut no organisations reported widespread deployment, and that current use was largely about improving existing processes rather than redesigning decision-making altogether (peopletechmaritime.com). Whitfield told that publication (peopletechmaritime.com): “There is clear interest in AI, but its role is still developing. For many organisations, the focus is on improving existing processes rather than fundamentally changing how supply chain decisions are made.”

Broader industry commentary suggests the direction of travel is clear even if execution is patchy. In IT Brief Australia, a 29 August column by Procureship sales vice-president Carsten Schmidt (itbrief.com.au) argued that maritime procurement has long been bogged down by manual, email-driven routines and outdated systems, but is starting to modernise through e-procurement tools. The article cited EY’s 2025 Global CPO survey as ranking generative AI for procurement automation among the top priorities for Asia-Pacific chief procurement officers, said 80% of CPOs globally planned to deploy generative AI in some capacity within three years, and said IDC expected AI and generative-AI investment in Asia-Pacific to reach US$175bn by 2028 (itbrief.com.au).

Achilles’ answer is to push AI into the “long tail” of suppliers that sit outside the usual due-diligence spotlight. ITLN reported (itln.in) that Achilles Risk Screening is designed to provide a scalable, low-touch intelligence layer across big supplier populations, combining data from the Achilles network with third-party information on ESG, geopolitical exposure, cyber risk, financial risk, adverse media and watchlists. Achilles said, according to ITLN (itln.in), that many companies still assess only a relatively small group of strategic or high-risk suppliers while the rest of the supply base remains largely unmonitored. Mark Chamberlain, the company’s chief product officer, told ITLN (itln.in): “Achilles Risk Screening gives customers an early view of potential risk across their suppliers, allowing them to take action earlier, focus assurance effort where it matters most, and prevent small issues from becoming costly disruptions.”

The survey and the product launch point to the same conclusion. Companies are no longer debating whether AI belongs in procurement and supplier-risk management; they are trying to work out how to use it without magnifying the blind spots they already have. On Achilles’ own evidence, the winners are unlikely to be the businesses running the most pilots. They are more likely to be the ones that can clean up supplier data, extend visibility beyond Tier 1, and decide where human judgement still matters most, as India Shipping News, AJOT and Procurement Magazine each suggested in different ways (indiashippingnews.com).

Source: Noah Wire Services