DATA SHEET

C3 AI Demand Forecasting
Transform Demand Planning with AI-Powered Forecasting
C3 AI® Demand Forecasting enables demand planners, and modelers with AI-generated demand forecasts
that improve forecast accuracy and planner efficiency.

Up to 30%+ Avoid Improve

absolute improvement in forecast accuracy lost sales from under-forecasting inventory levels and reduce over-forecasting

C3 AI Demand Forecasting is an enterprise AI application that applies advanced artificial Feature Summary
intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques to forecast demand accurately and
• Multiple input features: Leverage all
efficiently. It improves service levels, reduces stockout events, and drives supply chain cost
available enterprise and external data to
reduction.
create accurate forecasts.
Many companies are still relying on demand forecasting capabilities that are inflexible and
• Advanced AI/ML models: Enjoy
imprecise. These capabilities utilize insufficient data (e.g., only historical sales) and use simple
sophisticated time-series forecasting at
statistical or limited AI/ML techniques. They typically forecast at higher levels of the product
various time horizons and granularity from
hierarchy and use top-down approaches to disaggregate the forecasts to lower granularity
a library of 50+ best-in-class ML models.
levels. As a result, companies experience low forecast accuracy and prolonged, inefficient
demand planning cycles. • Multiple forecast metrics: Use forecast
accuracy, MAE, MAPE, RMSE, WAPE,
C3 AI Demand Forecasting unifies all relevant data to improve visibility across demand signals. and custom metrics.
The data include enterprise (e.g., sales, promotions, marketing/advertisement, customer
• AI explainability: an evidence package
information) and external data (e.g., macroeconomic trends, equities and commodities prices, ™
with feature contributions and detailed
weather, and news). The data are pre-processed to handle erroneous and missing data. These
reasoning for each AI forecast.
data are then unified in the Supply Chain Digital Twin. The data image is automatically refreshed.
A full version history is maintained in the time series designed specifically for AI/ML use. • Generative AI: Enhance user experience
with Gen AI insights, including additional
explainability functionality.

• Integrate with existing planning and

demand intelligence solutions. Leverage
bi-directional connectors with solutions
like SAP IBP, Kinaxis, or Aera.

• Auto-segmentation and tuning:

Automatically segment SKUs based on
similar characteristics and fine-tune
models for each segment.

• Spreadsheet component: Enable users

to dis/aggregate AI forecasts at any
granularity and understand AI/ML
performance over time.

• Forecast overwrite: Allow users to

overwrite AI forecasts as needed.

Figure 1. C3 AI Demand Forecasting provides granular and accurate AI forecasts across products, locations,
and customers.

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C3 AI Demand Forecasting creates accurate forecasts
at any supply chain hierarchy level (e.g., a SKU-
manufacturing facility level). C3 AI Demand
Forecasting deploys a best-fit AI/ML model for each
forecasting subject to ensure the highest possible
forecasting accuracy. These models are then
automatically trained, deployed, and retrained. All
forecasts are hierarchically reconciled across the
entire supply chain hierarchy.

C3 AI Demand Forecasting is designed to adapt to

various data scenarios. It automatically segments
SKUs based on similar demand profiles and tunes
the ML models for each. This flexible approach
allows for forecasting with limited or volatile data,
ensuring accurate predictions in any situation.

C3 AI Demand Forecasting continuously retrains ML

models to maintain high forecast accuracy. The C3 AI
Platform enables advanced multi-step AI/ML pipelines
for forecasting with multiple model routing. This
approach allows for multiple challenger models at
Figure 2. AI explainability with an evidence packages to explain the drivers behind each forecast.
different granularities, with the flexibility to constantly
prioritize the highest-performing models as needed.

To enable user trust and adoption, C3 AI Demand Forecasting supports each forecast with a rich evidence package that includes feature
contributions, other contextual data, and detailed reasoning to explain the “why?” behind the forecast. C3 Generative AI capabilities are
integrated into C3 AI Demand Forecasting to help users understand the drivers behind each forecast through an intuitive, natural-language
interface, further enhancing trust in AI/ML models.

C3 AI Demand Forecasting boosts demand planner efficiency. AI forecasts can trigger alerts (AI-driven or manually configured) that allow users
to prioritize their attention each forecasting cycle. Users can approve, reject, or overwrite AI/ML forecasts. These forecasts can be automatically
sent to the customer’s ERP and other integrated planning systems via bidirectional integration. This process allows companies to continue using
existing systems, such as SAP, Kinaxis, or OMP while benefiting from a significantly higher demand planning accuracy.

Improve Forecast Accuracy and Drive Operational Efficiency

with AI-Powered Forecasting
• Accurate AI-powered forecasts for every
forecasting subject

• Reduce overforecasting and underforecasting

at all levels of your organizations

• Improve operational efficiency and reduce

supply-related costs

• Reduce stockout events, improve service

level, and increase customer satisfaction.

• Improve planner productivity and reduce the

overall demand planning cycle time.

Figure 3. Generative AI-powered Evidence Package helps users understand forecast drivers
via an intuitive natural-language interface.

Proven Results in 6-Month Pilot Visit C3.ai/get-started

© 2024 C3.ai | All Rights Reserved | 24_0625