Empower your staff with a clear, compelling supply chain transformation narrative
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Battle Burnout From Supply Chain Transformation
CSCOs leading the organization in a new direction should develop a supply chain transformation narrative to avoid burnout and change fatigue
Supply chain transformation can be a demanding and challenging process, often leading to burnout among professionals in the supply chain industry.
Every CSCO who plans to lead the supply chain organization in a new direction — whether driven by digital business or other enterprise objectives — should begin their planning efforts by developing a clear, compelling transformation narrative.
Download the four-step guide to develop a supply chain transformation narrative that describes the preferred future state of the supply chain organization and its long-term aspirations.
About Supply Chain Transformation
Supply chain transformation is the key to success, particularly as companies face a challenging geopolitical, social, economic and technological landscape. It prepares the organization to confidently address the drivers impacting future supply chains by creating a clear long-term strategic plan. It is best accomplished when CSCOs start with a clear understanding of broad corporate objectives, and align the supply chain strategy to those objectives.
Gartner helps CSCOs and their teams achieve supply chain transformation through key focus areas.
CSCO Influence and Alignment
CSCOs must engage and influence their CEO, C-suite peers, and board of directors to secure support and investment for supply chain transformation. Extending influence across the partner ecosystem, including competitors, regulatory bodies, and key suppliers, is essential for long-term success.
Strategy Planning
CSCOs need to align supply chain transformation with evolving corporate goals and emerging trends to maintain a competitive edge. This involves recognizing critical drivers and trends and learning from leading supply chain organizations.
Strategy Execution
Executing a supply chain strategy requires aligning initiatives with strategic goals, prioritizing investments based on business value, risk, and competitive positioning, and developing a supply chain transformation roadmap to enhance value realization.
Performance Management
Effective performance management involves tracking metrics that align with corporate objectives, defining metrics beyond operations, and optimizing cost and cash while delivering expected customer service. This also includes examining processes, roles, and responsibilities to drive continuous improvement.
Network Design
Organizations are using network design capabilities to manage supply chain uncertainty and volatility. This involves optimizing the network for strategic objectives while balancing trade-offs, ensuring responsiveness, cost-efficiency, flexibility, and resilience.
Global Talent Strategy
With political uncertainty and technological advancements impacting the labor market, CSCOs must prioritize talent strategies to address labor availability and skill set demands.
Organization Design
Many supply chains are undergoing organizational redesigns to improve alignment with the enterprise, cost-efficiency, productivity, and to manage disruptions. This involves overcoming challenges with enterprise stakeholders, slow transformations, and change management friction to achieve expected ROI.
Supply Chain Transformation FAQs
What is supply chain transformation?
Supply chain transformation refers to the technological innovation and digitization of an organization’s supply chain.
Having a proficient supply chain operation is an integral in business success. The faster and more cost-effective you can make your supply chain, the better the business result. By transforming your supply chain to digital, or automating certain elements, businesses are able to more effectively see where gaps require attention, as well as get a stronger read on customer demand. Gartner can work with you on a supply chain transformation strategy that will deliver fast, effective business results.
What are supply chain transformation drivers?
There are several key drivers behind an organization’s supply chain transformation; however, the key to digitizing and automating your supply chain should lie in your customer demand. Some key supply chain transformation drivers are:
- Service over product. With the rise of online retail and consumerism, delivering a service-over-product experience to your end-user will see you succeed.
- Real-time logistics transparency. By delivering real-time logistics on purchases and goods, organizations can better service their customers as well as vendors.
- Cost-efficiency. New technologies such as the cloud, process automation and warehouse robotics provide efficiencies at every level of the supply chain via reliable and time-sensitive deliveries.
How do CSCOs achieve successful supply chain transformations?
Successful supply chain transformations are not accomplished by top-down executive mandates. They are driven by business model dynamics, the need for cross-functional collaboration and technology forces. Successful CSCOs sell and sustain transformations up, across and down the organization by building a transformation business case that is linked to key strategic forces.