Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has invested in Aera Technology through its venture arm, Accenture Ventures, according to a company statement. The investment aims to combine Aera's decision intelligence technology with Accenture's AI-enabled supply chain capabilities.

The partnership will target AI-driven decision-making solutions for global supply chains across consumer goods, high-tech, life sciences, mining and oil and gas industries. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

According to Accenture research cited in the statement, most companies remain in early stages of adopting autonomous supply chain capabilities. The research indicates that while 25% of companies have begun implementing autonomous features, the current median maturity across supply chain activities stands at 16% on a scale from 0% to 100%.

Aera Technology provides what the company calls agentic decision intelligence, which combines artificial intelligence with real-time orchestration engines to deliver automated decisions across supply chain, procurement, finance and operations functions.

"The speed at which decisions are required to balance costs and services is outstripping what manual, siloed processes can sustain," said Chris McDivitt, global lead for autonomous supply chains at Accenture.

The Hershey Company is currently implementing AI-enabled decision making in its supply chains with support from both Aera and Accenture. "The massive volatility in the supply chains today require AI-enabled decision-making, which we are using to identify and avoid a problem before it occurs," said Douglas Guilherme, global supply chain senior vice president at The Hershey Company.

Fred Laluyaux, co-founder and CEO of Aera Technology, stated that the collaboration aims to help organizations scale decision intelligence capabilities to operate with greater precision and speed.