A Gartner survey of 818 supply chain practitioners between August through October 2023 revealed that top-performing supply chain organisations are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to optimise their processes at more than twice the rate of low-performing peers. These top performers prioritise productivity over efficiency or cost savings as the key focus to sustain business momentum over the next three years.
The survey found that high-performing organisations are far ahead in automating and/or optimising processes that utilise supply chain data using AI/ML. Top performers are increasingly prioritising extracting value from their digital assets to drive productivity, rather than making digital investments to achieve efficiencies such as cost savings.
“Top-performing supply chain organisations make investment decisions with a different lens than their lower-performing peers,” said Ken Chadwick, VP analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain Practice. “We see this divide, especially in the digital domain where the best organisations are far ahead in optimising their supply chain data with AI/ML applications to unlock value.”
Supply chains must extract value from intangible assets
Among the top five digital investments expected to deliver value, high performers are farther along in implementation across the board. These include (high-performing vs. low-performing organisations):
- Partner with IT to establish unbreachable data security mechanisms (74% vs. 61%)
- Create ethical and binding data privacy frameworks for the use of customer data (68% vs. 50%)
- Write cybersecurity measures into supplier and staff contracts (66% vs. 57%)
- Capture supply chain-specific customer satisfaction data (58% vs. 40%)
- Analyse and leverage supply chain-specific customer use and satisfaction data (57% vs. 35%)
Chadwick says capturing, protecting and then leveraging an organisation’s data through the use of AI/ML is an example of how organisations are increasingly turning towards intangible assets to extract new sources of value.
He noted that high-performing organisations are moving beyond the initial implementation stage to full adoption, resulting in better decision-making that unlocks new sources of value.
The people side of the business
Gartner's survey also found similar trends in how top-performing supply chain organisations are achieving intangible value from their people and resource investments. Rapid tech advancement will drive the necessity for organisations to upskill their talent, with investments in learning and development needed to achieve the full benefits of the organisation's digital investments.
Top performers also excel in collaborating with suppliers to maintain consistency and working exclusively with suppliers that have their own risk controls.
