Today, IBM releases the results of its Global Chief Supply Chain Officer Study, The Smarter Supply Chain of the Future. This report summarizes the findings of an in-depth study that questioned 400 Senior Supply Chain professionals in 29 industries across 25 countries to determine the key challenges facing supply chain executives today.
The study, which identified the top five supply chain challenges, defined the three characteristics of the smarter supply chain as well as a roadmap for the CSCO of the future that centers around the challenges and core characteristics of the smarter supply chain.
The Top Five Challenges, which should be of little surprise to regular readers of the sourcing blogs, were:
- Visibility
collaboration, real-time data visibility, and decision support are all key concerns - Customer Intimacy
customer behavior comprehension, service cost models, optimized forecasts, and collaboration are all key concerns - Cost Containment
cost structures, inventory costs, fluctuating markets, and service costs are all key concerns - Risk
predictive capabilities, risk adjusted inventories, compliance strategies, and product traceability are all key concerns - Globalization
demand, supply, and distribution planning are key concerns
According to IBM, the three characteristics of a smarter supply chain are:
- Intelligence,
- Interconnectivity, and
- Instrumentation.
So how do these three I’s come together to define the smarter supply chain of the future? Download the report and find out!