All 2025 Conference Sessions

Gartner Opening Keynote: Turning Divergence Into Advantage

Speakers:

• Presented by Ken Chadwick, Distinguished VP, Advisory, Gartner

Key take-aways

• 75% of CEOs perceive supply chain as their biggest risk, but also view supply chain as their top strategy for delivering resilience.
• Despite supply chain data visibility being prioritized as a top capability, it is the lowest funded supply chain technology initiative; this needs to change.
  
• While 88% of supply chain leaders agree on the positive impact of scenario planning, just 19% are fully integrating it into their supply chain strategies.
  
• CSCOs need to build dynamic supply networks that respond to continuously changing conditions and brand partnerships that immerse the supply chain in product and customer outcomes to better shape the strategies that drive profitable growth.
  
• To accelerate innovation, identify your organization’s unique tech adoption profile, invest in a diverse portfolio of innovations and enable your team to lead the transition.

Signature Series: CEO Concerns for 2025: The Year of Dynamic Capacity

Speakers:

• Presented by Thomas O’Connor, VP and Chief of Research, Gartner

Key take-aways

• Growth remains the top priority of CEOs, with technology gaining as a priority, and cost management declining compared to last year.
  
• Geographic expansion is a top growth priority for CEOs, driven by the need to diversify risks in a volatile and uncertain environment.
• An overwhelming majority of CEOs (74%) think AI will have the most significant impact on their businesses over the next three years.
  
• Two-thirds of CEOs say their operating model is not fit for an AI world.
• 56% of CEOs say they will use AI to de-layer middle management within 5 years.

Signature Series: Supply Chain Technology Trends

Speakers:

• Presented by Kaitlynn Sommers, Senior Director Analyst, Gartner

Key take-aways

• The top motivators for new supply chain technology investment include: improving efficiency, revenue and profit growth, and reducing operating costs.
• The two themes that connect this year’s trends are connectivity and intelligence.
• The Augmented Connected Workforce leverages digital tools and data management techniques to integrate their interactions with both physical and virtual surroundings.
• Polyfunctional robots are machines that will be capable of taking on multiple tasks, following human instruction or example without explicit programming or hardware modification.
• Agentic AI enables a virtual workforce of AI agents that can assist, offload and augment human work or traditional applications.