Announcing o11's backing from Y Combinator.
Supply Chain Analytics: Using AI in Excel to Predict & Prevent Stockouts
Supply chain management is essentially a game of “matching supply with demand,” usually played out on a massive, complex spreadsheet. Even with multi-million dollar ERP systems like SAP or Oracle, the real decisions—the “what-ifs” and the “should-we-orders”—almost always happen in Excel.
The challenge? Excel is historically a “static” environment. By the time you download your “Days on Hand” report, the data is already old.
In 2026, supply chain leaders are using o11 to turn Excel from a static record-keeper into a proactive command center.
Real-Time Intelligence in the Grid
o11 bridges the gap between your heavy ERP data and your agile decision-making spreadsheet. Instead of manual lookups, you can query your data naturally.
- Risk Detection: You can prompt o11: “Scan our inventory levels. Highlight any SKUs where the current ‘Days on Hand’ is less than the projected lead time for that vendor plus a 2-week safety stock margin.” o11 does the math across multiple tabs and highlights the risk in red instantly.
- Dynamic Demand Forecasting: o11 doesn’t just do “moving averages.” It can look at historical seasonality, current promotion calendars, and even external economic indicators to suggest a more accurate demand forecast directly within your rows.
Automating the Response (The M365 Loop)
Finding a problem in a spreadsheet is only half the job. The other half is taking action—emailing the vendor, updating the warehouse, or briefing the COO. This is where o11’s integration with the full Microsoft 365 suite becomes a game changer.
From Alert to Action
Once o11 identifies a potential stockout, you don’t have to leave Excel to fix it.
- In Excel: “Draft a Purchase Order request for all highlighted SKUs at the standard order quantity.”
- In Outlook (via o11): o11 generates the emails to the respective vendors, attaching the specific SKU lists from your spreadsheet.
- In PowerPoint: “Create a summary slide for the Weekly Ops Review showing the top 5 SKUs at risk and our mitigation steps.” o11 builds the slide, using the live data from your Excel sheet, formatted perfectly.
Security & Local-First Reliability
For global supply chains, data security is paramount. o11’s local-first architecture ensures that your proprietary inventory data and vendor pricing aren’t being sent to a public cloud for training. Your data remains your competitive advantage.
Verdict
Supply chain management in 2026 isn’t about having the biggest database; it’s about having the fastest insight-to-action loop. o11 provides that loop by connecting your Excel analysis to your communication and reporting tools in one seamless AI-powered workspace.
