The great supply chain reset: five top trends revealed

The way we’ve always planned and the technology we’ve used for decades is no longer enough. And the very fundamentals upon which we plan are shifting at a time when planning has never been more important. Resilient supply chains must continue to do the same things well while adapting in new directions as disruptions – large and small – challenge businesses around the world.

 

Where will this reset take us? What are we learning about the new state of supply chain today and what should we be thinking about for the future? Fortunately, supply chain leaders, analysts, academics and thought leaders are offering up valuable insights on the trends taking us into 2022 and beyond. Let’s have a look at five of them that are driving the future of supply chain, and what leaders can do now to be ready.

 

Supply chain has become a board‑level topic 

 

CEOs and boards are charged with the long-term growth and strategy of a company, so they are concerned about barriers to future growth. According to the KPMG 2021 CEO Outlook, these priorities shifted in 2021 to a three-way tie between supply chain, sustainability and cyber-security.

 

These issues are hardly separable. A company’s supply chain contains on average 5.5 times as many greenhouse gas emissions as its own operations. Growing use of internet of things (IoT) and automation on the factory floor has hastened the convergence of operating technology (OT) and IT, and increased the attack surface for cyber-criminals. These incursions are no longer confined to customer data and can quickly bring down a supply chain. Supply chain has risen to the top of many lists of corporate concerns and into the headlines. But this attention hasn’t been all positive, as they have received blame for the snags we face, but little credit for any success.

 

Now is the time to showcase the competitive advantage supply chains bring so we can increase investment needed to deliver those advantageous results. However, to operate at the board level, supply chains need to be ready and able to connect their value to the wider enterprise – sales, marketing, operations and finance. For example, chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) need to speak the CFO’s language and show how they can not only deliver operational success but also translate it into financial results. Supply chains must be connected and collaborative, so all links can align to business strategy, and oriented toward a common set of the most important metrics (and not functional metrics that drive siloed behavior). This alignment will drive the results that get the CFO’s attention and get reported in the boardroom and on earnings calls.

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READ MORE: kinaxis.com/supplychain-trends

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by Polly Mitchell-Guthrie, VP Industry and Thought Leadership, Kinaxis