According to Cleo’s 2023 Global Supply Chain Executive Report, nearly half of supply chain executives surveyed said that making proactive investments in technology has increased their company’s revenues.
Details of the survey found that 49 percent of the senior executives Cleo surveyed said investments in integration technology had increased company agility, which helped them gain $1 million or more in revenue during 2022. About one-fifth of those surveyed (18 percent) said they saw revenue gains of $3 million or more.
“Looking at the past few years, even before the pandemic, supply chain challenges have long been troubling to executive leaders because they are typically assumed to be caused by external factors that can be difficult to control,” Cleo CMO Tushar Patel said. “But combating these external challenges and disruptions – partner demands, shipping availability, supplier requirements, or manufacturing shortages – and internal challenges like resource shortages really comes down to taking control of an organization’s integration backbone. Otherwise, the fact is, the root cause of these challenges will likely persist for years to come.”
The survey found that improved supply chain and organizational agility benefit other business aspects as well, including more business continuity (44 percent); stronger trading partner relationships (33 percent); improved end-to-end visibility (32 percent); better scalability (32 percent); faster pivots to deal with business condition changes (31 percent); and increased profits (27 percent).
“The benefits of a well-integrated digital ecosystem include greater efficiency and control, as well as fewer crippling disruptions and partner-related business issues,” Patel said. He also noted that 74 percent of executives reported that their business was disrupted for over a week in 2022 due to partner issues.