It’s early Monday morning. The warehouse team is scrambling to find a missing shipment, while the planning team’s inbox lights up with urgent requests, yet again. For the third time this month, a late delivery threatens to grind production to a halt. Over the past few years, this chaos has become the norm for supply chain teams. Instead of planning ahead, most days were spent putting out fires and just trying to keep things moving.
Netstock’s 2025 Supply Chain Planning Benchmark Report painted a clear picture of where SMBs stood at the end of last year. Teams were working to improve visibility, strengthen forecasting, and break out of reactive planning cycles, but progress still felt uneven. Nearly 93% of SMBs launched or expanded product lines in 2025 despite ongoing disruption. Yet, without predictive, AI-powered planning tools, some SMBS still relied on spreadsheets and manual reviews, struggling to balance inventory while reacting to volatility that slowed decisions and tied up cash.
Fast forward to 2026…
The biggest shift isn’t simply access to more data or the adoption of AI itself. The way planning teams think and make decisions becomes more important. Planning is becoming less about dashboards and more about driving real direction and informed decisions.
Here are the main trends Netstock experts are seeing in supply and demand planning this year, and what they mean for SMBs.
Trend 1: Proprietary data shapes who gets ahead
Most businesses collect large amounts of operational data. Fewer have it structured in a way that supports meaningful planning decisions.
The difference is even easier to spot this year.
Ara Ohanian, Netstock CEO, explains the shift clearly:
“2026 will be the year of big proprietary data. Businesses that can warehouse their own data and feed it into AI models will be able to predict issues earlier and automate how they respond.”
In 2025, SMBs focused on gathering data and improving their reports. Now, in 2026, the real value comes from putting that data to work. Planning tools are starting to quickly identify demand and supply patterns, lead time shifts, and inventory changes, things that would take people longer to notice.
“We’re moving toward software that helps teams identify potential issues earlier and take action before they affect service or cash.”
For planning teams, this means fewer last-minute surprises and a less stressful daily routine.
Trend 2: AI plays a bigger role in preventing issues, not just flagging them
Forecast accuracy improved for many businesses last year, but forecasts alone do not prevent stock-outs, excess inventory, or service failures.
That’s why the next step is crucial.
Netstock CTO Barry Kukkuk sees planning software moving beyond explanation and prediction. He explains businesses need software with predictive capabilities. At the lowest level, SMBs need software that predicts when they will have issues in the future. Even those are capabilities from the past. We’re moving into an era where software can not only predict what will go wrong, but suggest actions that can be taken early to prevent those issues.
AI is becoming part of the everyday workflow. Tasks like reordering, adjusting safety stock, and handling exceptions are less manual, giving planners more time to focus on tasks requiring their expertise.
The real magic of AI isn’t about just using chatbots, but technology that quietly understands your business’s unique needs and challenges. When software is AI-powered, it can spot patterns and offer real-time, practical help, not more notifications.
Trend 3: Inventory decisions will move closer to the finance function
Managing inventory is like walking the tightrope, you try to keep customers happy without tying up a mountain of cash in stock, and stressing about what might go wrong next. In 2026, that balancing act is getting a new partner: the finance team is stepping into the spotlight.
What used to be only the supply chain’s territory is now a shared mission.
Inventory isn’t just boxes on a shelf but a big indicator of how a business performs financially.
Netstock’s CFO, Vincent DiDomizio, says: “The biggest trend is the elevation of inventory optimization from an operational metric to a strategic financial lever. CFOs are realizing inventory isn’t just a supply chain problem, but it’s often the largest working capital component on our balance sheet and directly impacts ROIC, free cash flow, and our cost of capital.”
With prices, tariffs, and interest rates adding pressure, every item costs more. And, running out of key stock items puts sales and customer trust at risk. Find that sweet spot! That means finance and planning teams need to talk, not just at the end of the quarter, but constantly. Planning tools that offer predictive analytics and automation, help by taking the grunt work out of exception management, freeing up time for teams to make those bigger-picture decisions.
Manually managing inventory in spreadsheets and endless planning meetings just aren’t enough anymore. The volume of data, number of SKUs, and pace of change mean that by the time insights surface, the opportunity to act has often passed. Planning tools like Netstock let teams see right away what happens to cash and service levels when you tweak your inventory strategy. This allows finance and operations to have real, productive conversations about where to cut back and where to double down.
Trend 4: Security becomes part of inventory planning
Managing inventory means protecting your product, systems, and data. As more SMBs rely on cloud platforms, connect with outside partners, and adopt AI, the possibility of a cyberattack becomes real and costly.
Rizwana Khan, Head of IT Risk and Security, explains: “Cybersecurity will make or break inventory management. With warehouses relying on cloud systems, AI, and IoT, a breach can halt operations and damage trust. Third-party risks and stricter regulations make security a business priority, not just IT.”
It’s not only outside hackers you have to watch for.
Mistakes, third-party apps, or employees can open the door to problems. Firewalls and passwords aren’t enough. SMBs are turning to 24/7 monitoring, multi-factor authentication, and systems that give access only to the right people. You’ll hear about things like AI-driven threat detection, Zero Trust, and continuous monitoring. These are the new basics for keeping inventory systems safe.
This gives SMBs peace of mind: knowing the tools you rely on for inventory decisions are protected and ready for whatever comes next.
Trend 5: Buyers will focus more on value than features
If you’re shopping for planning software, you’ll notice things look a bit different. Buyers aren’t wowed by endless lists of features anymore; they’re looking for tools that actually help and show results fast. They are seeking a software that ticks their own boxes and that they can trust!
Ryan Bavery, Vice President, Product Management, sees a clear pattern. “As we move through 2026, I expect to see two trends in software licensing: an increased shift away from traditional per-user licensing and more flexibility in paying only for the capabilities [planners] need. IT budgets continue to tighten, and businesses are becoming less willing to pay for software than they are for outcomes.”
Today’s IT leaders are asking tough questions: Which features do we really use? How quickly will this tool pay off? Nobody wants to keep paying for extra licenses or bloated software that just sits there. While we’re not all the way to outcome-based pricing, 2026 brings more flexible models, like unlimited users or pay-as-you-go.
Product expectations remain consistent:
- Easy to use
- Straightforward deployment
- Enhanced security
- Responsible and useful AI
Enterprises have access to an ever-growing number of advanced AI solutions that leverage their massive proprietary data warehouses to further optimize, automate, and improve. For most SMBs, these solutions are out of reach and impractical. But, for the SMB, simply going without AI is not a viable approach either. Netstock advises businesses to look for AI solutions built specifically for mid-market supply chain needs.
Remember, not all AI is created equal.
- Select established providers with a history of delivering AI solutions to address real business problems.
- Have proof points of success.
- Demonstrate a commitment to data security.
At Netstock, the focus is on building responsible AI offering features that help with procurement, perishable inventory, lead-time prediction, and smooth onboarding, all with strong governance and security at the core.
Trend 6: Sales and marketing will directly influence inventory planning
Demand planning isn’t just about looking at numbers on a spreadsheet. Planners need to listen to what’s happening outside the operations team, especially what sales and marketing see and hear.
Jefferson Barr, CMO, believes AI is no longer a “nice-to-have” within a marketing department. It has become the default editor and co-creator for marketing teams. Gone are the days of looking at a blank screen and struggling to spin up the next iteration of a webinar abstract or a digital advertising messaging brief. Teams can quickly generate ideas and iterate on them to develop a solid foundation, allowing them to get the content or concept to ~80% in a fraction of the time it took before AI.
That efficiency helps marketing teams provide better insights into campaigns, launches, and demand drivers. Those insights matter for planning accuracy.
But AI isn’t perfect.
People are churning out generic, automated messages. Relevance and human touch matter both in customer outreach and internal conversations. The best insights come from sales and marketing teams who are close to the customer, not just relying on assumptions or old reports. As buying patterns keep changing, it’s more important than ever for marketing and planning teams to stay connected and share what they’re learning.
Trend 7: Partner ecosystems will narrow their focus
The world of technology partnerships is getting simpler and more focused. Channel Account Manager, Vaughan Proctor, has seen it firsthand.
“I have noticed a trend where partners are narrowing down the number of technology partners they work with. A select number of integrated and trusted ISVs that they can work closely with, to assist them in delivering the best technology solutions to their customers, is key.”
Partners will be more focused on providing targeted AI capabilities to their customers.
As agentic AI develops and adoption increases, partners will need to guide their customers to implement AI that solves real-world problems, saves time, and delivers proven ROI.
With tariff-related disruption continuing, partners also support supply diversification and margin protection through better inventory planning.
Trend 8: Data readiness separates AI results from AI hype
Let’s face it, AI is everywhere, but not every business is seeing the same results. It all comes down to how ready your data is.
Spencer James, Chief Data and AI Officer, sees a clear dividing line. What separates businesses getting real value from AI is focus. The most successful initiatives target a very specific business problem and clearly measure outcomes.
“AI is a very powerful solution which, when pointed at the right problem, can bring measurable results. This success is also dependent on data readiness. A business can have a compelling use case, but if its data is siloed or of poor quality, the AI will fail to deliver. True value comes when a business ensures its data is clean and accessible before launching its AI models.”
Data quality is just as important.
AI models cannot compensate for siloed, inconsistent, or poorly structured data.
Having a great idea for AI isn’t enough. If your data isn’t clean, consistent, and easy to access, you won’t get the results you want. That’s why the most successful businesses are spending time upfront ensuring their data is in shape before they ever launch an AI project.
This is why Netstock continues to focus on embedded, domain-specific AI models trained on supply chain realities and fed by customer-specific data, not just generic prompts.
Looking ahead
Supply and demand planning will still look familiar: forecasts, constraints, suppliers, and trade-offs will always play a significant role. But behind the scenes, something fundamental is shifting: who’s writing the next chapter?
The most resilient businesses won’t be the ones scrambling to react faster than everyone else. They’ll be the ones who identify problems before they hit, make adjustments, and keep things running smoothly. They’ll trust their data and their instincts, and spend less time arguing over forecasts and more time making bold decisions about where to invest, where to hold steady, and when to move fast.AI is here to make planners more strategic, not take over their function. It’s the difference between teams that use planning tools to report the news and those using them to shape what happens next. Data is an engine working quietly in the background, helping you make smarter decisions every day.
It’s not about the loudest technology or a checklist of features. It’s about planning with purpose, letting data drive outcomes, and making every decision a little bit easier.
So as you look ahead, ask yourself: Is your business ready to plan differently?
