Back From Manifest 2026: Visibility, Collaboration & The Next Supply Chain Operating Model

The future of supply chain management arrived at Manifest 2026, revealing how real-time visibility and collaborative networks are transforming logistics operations from siloed systems into unified, intelligent ecosystems.

The Unified Commerce Revolution Takes Center Stage

Osa Commerce team recently returned from Manifest 2026, the supply chain industry's leading gathering for logistics innovators, technology builders, and digital transformation leaders. After three days of keynotes, deep-dive sessions, and meaningful conversations, one thing was abundantly clear:

The era of disconnected, siloed supply chain systems is over.  In fact,the unified commerce revolution isn't coming—it's here.

We heard from leading 3PLs and enterprise brands who shared stories of transforming their operations by moving away from fragmented point solutions toward integrated platforms that connect sales channels, warehouse operations, order management, and last-mile fulfillment into a single source of truth.

What's more, the competitive advantage no longer belongs to companies with the most systems, but to those with the most connected systems.

Here’s a closer look at the themes that dominated the show floor and why they matter for 3PLs, brands, and supply chain leaders. 

Real-Time Visibility: From Buzzword to Table Stakes

This year, the conversation around 'real-time visibility' moved beyond aspirational into concrete operational requirements. Supply chain leaders aren't asking whether they need real-time visibility—they're asking how quickly they can implement it and what business outcomes it will drive.

Driven by customer expectations and competitive pressure, transparency is now expected in every purchase. For third-party logistics (3PLs) businesses and omnichannel brands , real-time visibility has become a table-stakes requirement for winning and retaining client relationships. Without the ability to provide accurate, live inventory positions and order status across all channels, logistics providers risk losing business to competitors who can.

Key Takeaway

Supply chains no longer accept visibility that stops at the edge of their tech stack.

Businesses need a single, unified view that spans the entire supply chain and drives action, not just insight.

Even the most sophisticated operations require real-time data not just to track what's happening, but to predict what's coming next and prescribe the optimal response. 

This convergence of visibility and intelligence is creating a new category of supply chain operations where data flows seamlessly across systems, stakeholders, and decision-making processes.

Collaborative Networks Are a Competitive Advantage

One of the most significant themes at Manifest 2026 was the recognition that collaboration—not just coordination—is becoming a competitive advantage in modern supply chains. The traditional model, where brands, 3PLs, carriers, and technology providers operated in separate silos with limited information sharing, is giving way to networked ecosystems built on transparency and shared objectives.

With an emphasis on collaborative networks — not just ecosystems, we heard that:

• Shippers want partners who share insight with them in real time

• 3PLs want tools that expand network intelligence, not silo it

• Brands want consistency across retail, direct-to-consumer, and marketplaces

This isn’t about “connecting systems” — it’s about connecting people, processes, and data in a way that enables shared outcomes and better orchestration.

Key Takeaway

Supply chain executives are looking to move transactional relationships to collaborative partnerships enabled by shared visibility platforms. 

Modern unified commerce platforms with collaborative visibility enable persistent, bidirectional data flows that keep all stakeholders in sync.

What's particularly exciting is how collaborative networks are extending beyond operational efficiency to enable new capabilities. When data flows freely across the network, organizations can measure and improve performance across dimensions that matter to their customers and stakeholders—not just speed and cost, but environmental impact, ethical sourcing, and social responsibility.

AI-Enabled Automation and the End of Manual Dependencies

Artificial intelligence (AI) dominated the technology discussions at Manifest 2026, but the conversation has matured significantly from previous years. The question is no longer 'What can AI do?' but rather 'How do we operationalize AI to deliver measurable business outcomes?'

The answer is moving from just predictive AI to also include prescriptive AI.

Predictive analytics—forecasting demand, anticipating delays, identifying potential stockouts—has impacted modern supply chain operations. The next frontier is prescriptive AI that doesn't just tell you what's likely to happen, but also recommends specific actions and, in some cases, automatically executes them based on embedded business rules and learned patterns.

Supply chain and logistics leaders want systems that:

• Detect exceptions before they hit the bottom line
• Recommend responses based on real patterns, not rulebooks
• Automate decisions at scale with guardrails for human oversight

In fact, AI-enabled automation is here and ready to transform operations:

• Intelligent wave planning that optimizes picking efficiency based on real-time order profiles and labor availability

• Dynamic inventory allocation that routes orders to the optimal fulfillment location, considering cost, speed, and capacity constraints

• Automated exception handling that resolves common issues without human intervention

• Predictive labor scheduling that adjusts staffing levels based on forecasted order volumes and historical productivity patterns

What makes these applications powerful isn't just the AI algorithms—it's the unified data foundation that feeds them. Machine learning models are only as good as the data they're trained on, and fragmented systems with data quality issues simply can't support sophisticated AI applications. Organizations that have invested in unified commerce platforms with clean, real-time data are seeing dramatic improvements in forecast accuracy, operational efficiency, and decision-making speed.

Key Takeaway

AI without execution is a dead end. The winners will be those who use AI to improve operational throughput, reduce costs, and accelerate time-to-decision. 

This shift was echoed in conversations around AI compliance, exception management, and network optimization.

Osa AI Retail Compliance, released at Manifest, enables brands and 3PLs to automatically enforce retailer requirements, reduce chargebacks, and detect issues before they escalate. 

Using both predictive and prescriptive AI workflows, Osa centralizes retailer requirements into a single layer. Now, data can be shared across sites, customers, and workflows to predict, prevent, and detect compliance risks.

Building the Next-Generation Supply Chain Operating Model

Through our conversations at Manifest, a clear picture emerged of what the next-generation supply chain operating model looks like—and how organizations can begin building it today.

The foundation is unified commerce platforms that connect front-end sales channels with back-end fulfillment operations, creating a single source of truth across the entire order-to-cash workflow.

Unified architecture enables real-time visibility across all stakeholders in the supply chain network. Rather than operating in silos with periodic data synchronization, modern supply chains flow information continuously and bidirectionally, ensuring that everyone—brands, 3PLs, carriers, technology providers—is working from the same accurate, up-to-date information. This collaborative visibility layer transforms how supply chain partners work together, moving from transactional relationships to strategic partnerships.

On top of this data foundation, AI-enabled automation and prescriptive analytics drive intelligent decision-making at every level. Business rules embedded in warehouse management systems optimize picking and packing workflows. Order management systems automatically route orders to the optimal fulfillment location. Integration platforms seamlessly connect disparate systems without custom code or manual intervention. The result is operations that scale efficiently, respond dynamically to changing conditions, and continuously improve through machine learning.

Let's Keep the Conversation Going

The conversations at Manifest 2026 confirmed what we've been building toward: the future of supply chain operations isn't about having the most systems—it's about having the most connected, collaborative, and intelligent ecosystem. Our unified platform combines warehouse management, order management, integration capabilities, fulfillment automation, and collaborative visibility in a single cloud-based SaaS solution. With over 440 preset integrations, tech-agnostic architecture, and continuous enhancement cycles, we're helping 3PLs and brands implement the next-generation operating model without the cost, complexity, and implementation timelines of traditional enterprise systems.

The Osa Unified Commerce Platform delivers:

• Unified data across order, inventory, and execution systems
• Collaborative networks with shared visibility and accountability
• AI that drives prescriptive workflows, not just insights
• Flexible infrastructure that enables rapid growth, not slow integrations

If you weren’t able to meet us at Manifest or want to dig deeper into the themes above, we’d love to connect.

Whether you’re focused on visibility, AI automation, network collaboration, or reducing compliance risk, drop us a message or book time with our team — we’re here to help you turn visibility into growth.