2 min

Just before coronavirus pandemic disrupted world economies, one in ten enterprises were working on a robust, and resilient customer-centred supply chain which could facilitate growth. This is according to Accenture’s recent research which concludes that not many companies can depend on their supply chains right now.

Based on a sample of 900 senior executives from nine different organisations from across the world, the report titled “License for Growth: Customer-centric Supply Chains” claims that the lack of flexibility when delivering undifferentiated customer offerings is one of the key supply chain challenges.

Other challenges

According to the report, other problems include soloed tech architecture that does little to encourage collaboration and co-innovation and poor ecosystem design, which lacks the appropriate partners.

“The supply chain has always been the lifeline to humanity. The COVID-19 health crisis has brought to light the critical need for a resilient supply chain that produces and delivers all essential goods and services quickly, safely and securely,” said Kris Timmermans, a senior managing director and global supply chain and operations lead at Accenture.

Kris added that though companies had attained a remarkable milestone in aspects such as faster decision making and transparency, they must now double down on creating a more customer-centred, decisive supply chains that will result in growth as economies recover from the effects of COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusion

The report concludes that even though companies invest millions of dollars into supply chain overhaul, only 10% have successfully realised the transformation. The reason is that these firms emphasised on four key things: innovation, clients, creating targeted capabilities and engaging the CEO beyond the normal conversation.