As tariff policies change rapidly, companies are scrambling to understand the volatile impacts on their operations, from raw material costs to supply chain disruptions.
To better navigate this, software developers have prioritized making digital tools to help manufacturers and retailers have better visibility into how tariff fluctuations are affecting them.
Avanade, a joint venture between Microsoft and Accenture, recently introduced its Tariff Navigator tool to provide real-time alerts, cost updates and insights that business leaders can use to make faster, more sound decisions.
Tom Nall, global manufacturing and automotive industry executive at Avanade, presented the Tariff Navigator during the North American Manufacturing Excellence Summit in Fort Worth, Texas, last week.
Instead of searching through records and systems to understand what tariff codes are in place, he said users can interact with Avanade’s tool, which uses artificial intelligence to comb through the company’s data, by asking it simple questions and requests.
In a video demonstration, a procurement manager named “Alex” is able to get real-time alerts of tariff changes, update SKU classifications in seconds and see how purchase orders are affected by suppliers.
The tool can also generate reports highlighting the top items affected by tariffs to help him begin to explore alternative suppliers or distribution options, according to the company’s presentation.
“He never once had to go into an ERP system,” Nall said. “He never once had to go out to a governmental system that keeps the records and the tariff changes. He never once had to go to his IT department and say, ‘write me this report and send it to me’ or download things to Excel to manipulate it.”
“All he did was talk to a system,” Nall added. “All he did was ask that system everyday questions, and it was able to go behind the scenes and give him the information that he needs to do his job.”
Enterra Solutions, a data analytics firm that works with food manufacturers such as Nestlé and General Mills, recently launched its own AI tariff tool for data-backed decision-making assistance.
The Enterra Dynamic Enterprise Resiliency System is able to anticipate market shifts and recommend actions to take with 91% accuracy amid volatile economic and political environments, according to a news release.
“Legacy systems, technologies and processes were built for a time in which seismic economic and geopolitical changes happened every decade, not every month or day,” Stephen DeAngelis, founder and CEO of Enterra, said in a statement.
“We can now power business leaders to quickly understand what levers they can pull and what decisions they can make to turn risk into opportunity,” DeAngelis added.
Beyond manufacturing, Edited, an AI-powered retail intelligence platform, has launched its new tariff tracker to help retailers respond faster to tariff impacts. A version of it is available to the public and can show how tariffs are shaping pricing, assortment and promotional strategies in real time.
“With Edited, they get real-time insights and AI-driven recommendations to move fast, protect margins, and stay ahead of the market,” Shellie Vornhagen, chief marketing officer at Edited, said in a statement.
Edited’s tracker draws from more than 5 billion SKUs across 5,000 retailers and more than 14 years of history, according to a news release. Retailers can also make agile pricing strategies, smarter inventory planning and spot inventory risks early through Edited’s full retail intelligence platform offerings.
