Kinaxis: Why Supply Chain Leaders Must Ramp up Resilience

One of the major lessons companies were supposed to have learned from the pandemic was the need for supply chains to be far more flexible and resilient. 

And yet, if research carried out by IDC and commissioned by Kinaxis is anything to go by, slow progress is being made in turning this vision into reality.

Less than a fifth (17%) of global supply chain leaders say their companies can respond to disruptions within 24 hours – and they are frustrated about it, too. Two-thirds (67%) of respondents admit to being ‘not very satisfied’ with their organisation's response time. 

The comprehensive survey of 1,800 supply chain decision-makers from around the world exposes the harsh reality that most are struggling to keep their operations agile and adaptable amid an onslaught of disruptions from geopolitical conflicts, natural disasters and other volatility. 

While the average crisis response time is five days, the survey shows performance varies across industries. In the oil and gas sector, for example, 28% of respondents say they can mount a response within a day, compared to 15% in life sciences and 14% in aerospace.

“It’s more common than ever on quarterly earnings calls to hear that supply chains make or break success,” comments John Sicard, President and CEO at Kinaxis.

“This data proves there is a tremendous opportunity across all sectors to improve resilience and risk mitigation.”

Leaders look to improved orchestration tools

In carrying out the research, supply chain management specialist Kinaxis commissioned IDC to survey 1,800 supply chain leaders across North America (US and Canada), Europe (UK, France, and Germany) and APAC (Japan, Taiwan, India and Australia).

Although respondents in all regions are overwhelmingly 'not very satisfied’ with their businesses’ ability to withstand and respond to supply chain shocks, they remain optimistic about technology’s potential to turn the tide.

The vast majority (97%) say better orchestration tools would have a modest (44%) or significant (53%) impact on supply chain performance, demonstrating them as a key enabler for the future. 

“Cutting-edge, AI-enhanced, end-to-end orchestration tools that enable companies to gain transparency, agility and improved collaboration can help address these compounding trends and make CSCOs the heroes instead of the scapegoats the next time trouble appears on the horizon.”

Supply chain leaders plan tech investments

Other key findings from the research include: 

• Industrial respondents rate their resiliency highest (47%), while retail (29%) and aerospace (27%) rate themselves lowest
• Two-in-five (42%) of consumer product respondents rate their supply chain orchestration as mature, the highest among all verticals
• A quarter (25%) of respondents plan to move to new technologies in the next year to improve resilience
• A third (33%) want supply chain orchestration platforms that offer AI/GenAI capabilities
• Almost two-thirds (63%) of leaders view their supply chain as some form of competitive advantage over the next 12 months, dropping to 48% across the next three years
• The biggest roadblock to adopting a supply chain orchestration application, according to 37% of leaders, is not being able to find the right vendor solution

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