A new study by ToolsGroup and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) found that the majority (90%) of respondents are somewhere along the digital journey, but talent deficits threaten to slow progress, with 42% of respondents handling staff/skills shortages poorly or very poorly.
Plus, just 3% of companies didn’t experience any COVID-19-related business impact, while 42% of organizations say the pandemic has accelerated their digitization plans.
“In our 2019 survey, the biggest factor holding back digital transformation was ‘fear of change.’ Today, we see a sharp contrast as COVID-related demand uncertainty has accelerated digitization to enable future resilience,” says Caroline Proctor, chief marketing officer of ToolsGroup. “Technologies such as demand forecasting and inventory optimization, which automate decision making and free up working capital while guaranteeing service, are top priorities for investment.”
“Half of those firms reaping the benefits of planning digitization say their transformation is being led by their CEO,” adds CSCMP president and CEO Mark Baxa. “Whereas those not pursuing a strategy say their digitization efforts are being led by line-of-business managers. We believe the more successful companies are actively pursuing change for greater future resilience; the alternative is to be a victim of tomorrow’s unplanned disruptions.”
From PR Newswire:
- 54% of those “reaping the benefits of digital transformation” said that they were managing COVID-19-related demand and supplier uncertainty “very well.” However, only 13% of those in the “evaluating” or “not pursuing” stages reported handling this area “very well,” indicating that digital technology and processes may be enabling better management of disruption.
- The Top 3 business drivers for digitizing planning are the ability to keep up with evolving customer behaviors and expectations (44%); the need to increase automation to focus staff on higher level activities (43%); and an overall desire to improve business performance (42%). Other top factors include improving customer service levels (39%); improving reaction to unplanned disruptions (35%) and increasing supply chain resilience (34%).
