Most Companies Unprepared For Supply Chain Emergency

Supply chains are unprepared for emergencies that require swift action, specifically those necessitating a response within a day. That's the takeaway from a new study from IDC and Kinaxis, which found that less than one-fifth (17%) of global supply chain leaders say their companies can respond to disruptions within 24 hours.

Despite discussions about being prepared for anything, the study shows slow progress in enhancing the flexibility and resilience of supply chains. The study reveals that despite much talk about preparedness, companies are making slow progress in making supply chains more flexible and resilient. Two-thirds (67%) of respondents are not 'very satisfied' with their response time.

The survey included 1,800 supply chain decision-makers worldwide. It also reveals the average crisis response time is five days, though performance varies across industries. In the Oil & Gas sector, for instance, 28% of respondents say they can mount a response within a day, compared to 15% in life sciences and 14% in aerospace. 

On the plus side, optimism exists regarding supply chain orchestration tools as a crucial future enabler.

“It’s more common than ever on quarterly earnings calls to hear that supply chains make or break success and this data proves that there is a tremendous opportunity across all sectors to improve resilience and risk mitigation,” said Kinaxis President and CEO John Sicard. “Cutting-edge, AI-enhanced, end-to-end orchestration tools that enable companies to gain transparency, agility, and improved collaboration can help address these compounding trends and make chief supply chain officers the heroes instead of the scapegoats the next time trouble appears on the horizon.”

Despite the negative outlook, there is optimism about technology’s potential to turn the tide, with 97% saying better orchestration tools would have a modest (44%) or significant (53%) impact on supply chain performance.

Other key findings include:

• Industrial respondents rate their resiliency highest (47%), while retail (29%) and aerospace (27%) rate themselves lowest
• 42% of consumer product respondents rated their supply chain orchestration as mature, the highest among all verticals
• 25% of respondents plan to move to new technologies in the next year to improve resilience
• 33% want supply chain orchestration platforms that offer AI/genAI capabilities
• 63% view their supply chain as some form of competitive advantage over the next 12 months, but it drops to 48% across the next 1-3 years
• 37% said the biggest roadblock to adopting a supply chain orchestration application was not finding the right vendor solution

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