Story originally appeared in The Telegraph on May 16, 2020. Excerpts from the story below. To see the full story visit Telegraph.co.uk.

Dr Michael Feindt, founder of Blue Yonder which uses AI to provide supply chain management and retail planning, said that as soon as lockdown was imposed there were “big changes” in customer behaviour which have continued to change from one week to the next.

He said that he was pleasantly surprised with how well their systems adapted, but they had discussions with customers on how they “turn the steering wheel” and they made alterations to account for a complete shift in purchasing.

The pandemic has proven that the algorithms need not only to be “robust” but “able to change” quickly, Dr Feindt said, particularly as different parts of the world react to events in different ways.