Resilience top priority for supply chain practitioners

Supply chain resilience and agility will be the biggest priority in the next 12 month for almost half (48%) of senior supply chain professionals, according to the latest research from IDC.

Beyond resilience the next top priorities were operational efficiency (46%) and improving product compliance, quality, safety or environmental sustainability (44%) .

In a study of over 1,800 supply chain professionals IDC also found that three in ten (30%) supply chain practitioners believed that their supply chain was either at a competitive disadvantage or at par with others, while nearly two-thirds (65%) of companies believed their supply chain planning to be a source of competitive differentiation.

When it came to supply chain digitisation security concerns were the biggest barrier to digital transformation for over a third (35%) of organisations, followed by legacy systems (33%) and technology expertise (31%).

John Sicard, chief executive of survey sponsor Kinaxis, said: “We are starting to see the use of modern digital technologies really driving supply chain transformation but there is still much work to do.

“Companies whose supply chains are less mature are falling behind in terms of being able to act on real-time insights and make use of accurate data to keep themselves ahead of the pack.

“It’s also evident that those that have a competitive advantage at the moment will need to continually invest in technology to maintain this advantage over the coming years.”

The study also found that 35% of organisations planned to invest in artificial intelligence and machine learning but had not yet gone past the planning stage, yet more than 60% are starting to use or are already using these technologies today.

Sicard added: “It’s imperative that companies prepare their supply chains today, and lean into digital transformation to improve all business operations, including integrated business and supply chain planning.

“The impact of technology on the supply chain, and its implications for planning transformation specifically, leads to supply chain resiliency and agility allowing companies to be better prepared to respond to and navigate business disruptions.”

The 24th Supply Chain Excellence Awards, with new categories for 2020 – including the Supply Chain Operations Award and Supply Chain Strategy and Design Award – will take place on 12 November. For more information, including how to enter and sponsorship opportunities, contact daniel.jessop@akabomedia.co.uk