In this podcast, guest Dwight Klappich joins co-hosts Thomas O’Connor and Caroline Chumakov to discuss Predicts 2022: Supply Chain Technology. With things changing so quickly, Gartner is exploring the medium-term future in order to help CSCOs make calculated risks based on our research. Specifically, two predictions are explored during the podcast:By 2026, more than 75% of commercial supply chain management applications vendors will deliver embedded advanced analytics, artificial intelligence and data science.Through 2025, 25% of supply chain decisions will be made across intelligent edge ecosystems.Organizations are focused on investing in digital transformation and decision making, evaluating technology that can help them become more agile, adaptive and flexible. This decision making involves embedded intelligence and data science. Those with greater risk tolerance and resources are the earlier adopters. To make the transition from early adopter to mainstream, more packaged solutions need to be available — and vendors are responding.We discuss how enhanced decision making is a top funding priority for supply chains because quality, speedy decisions are increasingly important. Supply chains are getting more complex and the number of disruptive events is increasing. Supply chains have to be more responsive, which is causing companies to rethink their IT architectures. More decision making is being pushed to the edge, which requires the ability to make rapid decisions in near real time, as close to the point of need as possible. More investment will be needed to build this.

In this podcast, guest Simon Bailey joins co-hosts Thomas O’Connor and Caroline Chumakov to discuss Predicts 2022: Supply Chain Strategy. With things changing so quickly, Gartner is exploring the medium-term future in order to help CSCOs make calculated risks based on our research.A key topic discussed is how, when it comes to driving transformation and business impact, CSCOs are recognizing the critical role of collaborative digital ecosystems. How, to achieve competitive success, organizations are bringing together competitors, governments, non-governmental organizations, academia and startups such that they can compete as an ecosystem rather than discrete, individual firms. We also explore the “Say-Do Gap.” Many organizations have made public commitments in areas including sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). However, some have yet to put solid plans in place to deliver these goals. Those organizations that are reporting progress toward their objectives and actively driving to close gaps with action are the ones that are seeing the benefits. This is a key driver behind two of our predictions: that by 2024, 70% of global organizations will report supply chain performance against corporate DEI objectives, and that by 2025, 90% of public sustainable packaging commitments won’t be met due to reliance on plastics and single-use packaging.

In this podcast, host Thomas O’Connor and guest Suzie Petrusic explore the future of supply chain. This conversation draws on analysis of our Future of Supply Chain Survey of nearly 1,000 supply chain leaders. The ultimate determination: CSCOs must reinvent the supply chain in four substantial ways. These reinventions must focus on human-centric design, dynamic execution of real-time decisions, authentic achievement of sustainability and commercial innovation-driven growth.The conversation highlights how a shift from a location-centric to a human-centric work design will address advances in technology, changes that come with different generations of workers and the global supply chain talent shortage expected over the next three to five years. The discussion offers a real-world example of how Siemens has leveraged citizen developers to accelerate automation.Next the discussion explores how supply chains need to shift from operational excellence to driving commercial innovation and concludes by recommending what supply chain leaders should think about heading into the new year. In short, this is an opportunity for the supply chain not just to respond to the reinventions demanded of it, but an opportunity to drive the world to that reinvented future.See Supply Chain Executive Report: The Future of Supply Chain 2022 for deeper and additional insights into the topics discussed during this podcast.

Supply chain expert Noha Tohamy joins host Thomas O'Connor to discuss improving decision quality with reciprocal human-machine augmentation. They explore strategies such as crowdsourcing and data literacy, and provide real-world examples from Cisco and Western Digital. The podcast highlights the importance of leveraging the combined intelligence of humans and machines for better decision making in supply chain management.

In this podcast, host Thomas O’Connor and guest Jennifer Loveland explore the continual growth of supply chain complexity. CSCOs must apply a life cycle management approach to the supply chain operating model as an antidote to this complexity. The conversation provides real-world examples from Schneider Electric and Siemens, then finishes up by providing five actions that life cycle owners can take to address issues across the five phases within the Supply Chain Architecture Life Cycle (SCALe), which are summarized here:Retire — Gain value by actually eliminating complexity, not by simply saying that you will focus on doing so.Align — The best check on complexity is to avoid adding it. When required, prioritize complexity that improves competitive position.Create — Building operating model composability helps structure complexity, making changes to meet needs easier, faster and cheaper.Execute — Leverage ecosystem partners and technology in new ways to capitalize on composability investments.Sustain — Use voice-of-the-user insights to regularly assess existing complexity and identify areas to reinvent processes using composability principles.

In this podcast, host Thomas O’Connor and guest Pier Manenti explore the concept of partner ecosystems, which nearly every organization today engages with in some way or another. Supply chain’s role in enabling the ecosystem is critical. Chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) have the opportunity to integrate partners by going beyond linear interactions and extending the ecosystem to a broader network of entities.The conversation showcases real-world insights from Colgate-Palmolive and Kimberly-Clark, and concludes by offering actions that supply chain leaders can take to engage their trading partners in a digital supply chain ecosystem, briefly summarized here as:Increase the understanding within your organization.Blaze a clear strategy and roadmap.Create a true ecosystem of partners.Prioritize investments in digitalization.Grow and scale the business value of the ecosystem.

Episode HighlightsBeth Coppinger explores: The definition of customer experience (CX). (02:01)Utilizing the practice of customer experience management to develop and deploy strategic plans that enable the business to come together cross-functionally to create a customer-centric culture which enhances customer satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy. (02:40)Real-world example from Lenovo on how to use the customer voice to shift organization mindset and culture. (06:56)Real-world example from Dow on correlating operational metrics, with customer experience metrics and business metrics to prove out the ROI of CX investments. (10:04)What will become more relevant to understanding customer wants and needs over the next three years. (13:48)Key actions leading supply chains can take to become a more customer-centric organization. (16:26)

In this podcast, host Thomas O’Connor and guest Caroline Chumakov explore the challenges of generational workforce change as Millenials solidify their roles in our businesses while those from the Gen Z cohort increasingly enter the workforce. The conversation explores key topics such as why supply chains need to rethink their employment value proposition and provides real-world examples from companies such as winemaker E&J Gallo as well as medical device, pharmaceutical and consumer products manufacturer Johnson & Johnson. It then finishes up by investigating four key actions that CSCOs can take as they look to attract and retain Gen Z and millennial talent.See Supply Chain Executive Report: Revolutionize Talent By Winning With Gen Z and Millennials for deeper and additional insights into the topics discussed during this podcast.Subscribe to The Gartner Supply Chain Podcast on  Apple Podcasts and  Spotify.Run Time: 23:18 minutes    

In this podcast, host Thomas O’Connor and guest Sarah Watt explore purpose-driven enterprises. Purpose-driven organizations create value not only for shareholders, but also for stakeholder groups — including customers, suppliers, local communities and employees.Creating a purpose-driven enterprise is relatively new. Listen to a discussion about how CSCOs can take action to move on the continuum from being profit-centric to purpose-driven. The conversation provides real-world examples from Solvay and General Mills, then finishes up by providing five actions that supply chain leaders can take as they look to make their organizations more purpose-driven:Executive commitment: Integrate purpose into the supply chain strategy, decision-making processes and metrics.Portfolio management: Review the pipeline for unintended consequences and advise stakeholders on raw materials selection.Partner ecosystems: Identify opportunities for innovation and collaboration.Employee engagement: Provide employees with decision-making frameworks and build a culture in alignment with enterprise purpose.Governance: Diversify metrics to go beyond financial performance and include other stakeholder groups.

In this podcast, host Thomas O’Connor and guests Suzie Petrusic and Sarah Watt investigate the increasingly complex risk environment supply chains are operating within. They explore how most supply chain leaders are focusing on increased agility, resilience and visibility, while leaders are complementing these efforts with an approach that focuses on reducing the supply chain surface area. This concept translates to having less movement within the supply chain combined with a smaller overall footprint. The discussion provides real-world examples from Stanley Black & Decker as well as First Solar, before closing out by looking at the two key actions supply chain leaders need to take as they look to shape supply chain disruption in their organizations:Developing a disruption-shaping strategy and obtaining enterprise support for itDesigning and maintaining a disruption-shaping supply chainSee Supply Chain Executive Report: Shaping Supply Chain Disruption in a New Era of Risk for deeper and additional insights into the topics discussed during this podcast.Subscribe to The Gartner Supply Chain Podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.Run Time: 20:46 minutes