Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo Barcelona: Day 3 Highlights

We are bringing you news and highlights from the Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo, taking place in Barcelona this week. Below is a collection of the key announcements and insights coming out of the conference.

On Day 3 from the conference, we are highlighting sessions on the top supply chain technology trends, end-to-end risk management and how supply chain leaders can invest effectively in GenAI. 

• Opening Keynote Press Release: Gartner Says Supply Chain’s Value Must Surpass Cost Savings to Remain Strategic Beyond Times of Crisis
• Day 2 Press Release: Gartner Identifies Three Actions for Supply Chain Leaders to Mitigate Long-Term Resource Constraints
• Day 3 Press Release: Gartner Predicts Half of Companies With Warehouse Operations Will Leverage AI-Enabled Vision Systems by 2027

Presented by Carly West, Senior Director Analyst, Gartner  

Gartner data shows that 82% of chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) believe their organizations will increase supply chain technology investments this year and next. In this session, Carly West, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner, revealed the top supply chain technology trends for 2024, the drivers and themes behind the trends, and why they need to be on every CSCO’s radar. 

• “Investment in supply chain technology is being driven by the pursuit of three expected benefits: 1) new business models and competitive advantage 2) efficiency and productivity and 3) better decision making outcomes, resilience and agility.” 

• “Balancing the company’s maturity, risk appetite and goals will help CSCOs to determine the sweet spot for their business to prioritize the right trends and technologies to explore.”

• “AI is both a driver behind many of the themes, and a theme itself, through Composite AI, a combination of different AI techniques to improve efficiency and learning.” 

• “The augmented connected workforce uses AI and advanced analytics to extend worker’s capabilities where normal human memory, attention or focus would fatigue or be unreliable.”

• “Labor shortages are the top challenge for 60% of supply chain organizations, providing an opportunity for the augmented connected workforce and next-generation humanoid working robots.”

Presented by Heather Wheatley, VP Analyst, Gartner

According to a recent Gartner survey, 82% of supply chain leaders agree that proactive mitigation was spent on the wrong risks. In this session, Heather Wheatley, VP Analyst at Gartner, highlighted three key elements of an effective supply chain risk management playbook that allows organizations to balance risk with cost to achieve organizational objectives..

• “An end-to-end risk management strategy has three key elements: build the strategy, manage prioritized risk and respond well to disruption.” 

• “Start by agreeing with wider business stakeholders what is important and then design a repeatable risk process that considers assessment, appetite and cost of mitigations.”

• “Current trends on spending show that 77% of supply chain leaders would have distributed their budget to cover different risks over the past 12 months.” 

• “Manage prioritized risk with two main strategies. First, reduce the likelihood of risk by reducing the surface area.Then, leverage resilience, agility and visibility to reduce the impact of risk.”

• “Gartner data shows that 71% of disruption plans required meaningful revisions after a disruption; ensure your business continuity plan addresses four key stages: risk assessment, business impact analysis, recovery strategies/plans and confirmation of plan effectiveness.”

Presented by Leonard Ammerer, Director Analyst, Gartner 

Almost all supply chain leaders are now exploring GenAI use cases. In this session, Leonard Ammerer, Director Analyst at Gartner, shared key actions to help these leaders navigate, while avoiding the early fumbles often associated with the adoption of emerging transformative technologies.

• “Supply chain leaders need to invest in a GenAI strategy that is aligned with the distinct structure of the function.” 

• “GenAI strategy in supply chain must focus on prioritizing local empowerment over centralized control.” 

• “Employees are already overburdened from change; simplicity should be used as a design principle to maximize success rate of GenAI initiatives.” 

• “GenAI use cases may be different from other functions that are focused on augmenting internal workflows; supply chain leaders need to consider use cases that move beyond what the enterprise is proposing.” 

• “Only 9% of non-supply chain respondents reported that the CSCO is involved in GenAI strategy."
  
• “To close the perception gap, CSCOs must: invest in differentiating use cases, leverage their ecosystem, educate their organizations, and prioritize multi-benefit use cases.”