“Top performing supply chain organisations make investment decisions with a different lens than their lower performing peers,” said Ken Chadwick, VP analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain Practice.

He added: “Enhancing productivity is the key factor that will drive future success and the key to unlocking that productivity lies in leveraging intangible assets. We see this divide especially in the digital domain where the best organisations are far ahead in optimising their supply chain data with AI/ML applications to unlock value.”

In the survey, organisations were scored across five key metrics measuring business and people outcomes to determine their performance level.

Among the key findings, the data showed that high-performing organisations are far ahead in automating and/or optimising processes that utilise supply chain data using AI/ML. “High performers” were those reporting performance that exceeded expectations over the last 12 months across the five measurements in supply chain outcomes.

• Partner with IT to establish unbreachable data security mechanisms (74% vs. 61%)
• Create ethical and binding data privacy frameworks for use of customer data (68% vs. 50%)
• Write cybersecurity measures into supplier and staff contracts (66% vs. 57%)
• Capture supply chain specific customer satisfaction data (58% vs. 40%)
• Analyse and leverage supply chain specific customer use and satisfaction data (57% vs. 35%)

“Capturing, protecting and then leveraging an organisation’s data through the use of AI/ML is an example of how organisations are increasingly turning towards intangible assets to extract new sources of value,” added Chadwick. “High performing organisations are moving beyond the initial implementation stage to full adoption, resulting in better decision making that unlocks new sources of value.”

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Gartner’s survey found similar trends in how top performing supply chain organisations are achieving intangible value from their people and resource investments. Chadwick noted that rapid tech advancement will drive the necessity for organisations to upskill their talent, with investments in learning and development needed to achieve the full benefits of the organisation’s digital investments.

When managing resource investments, top performing organisations were far ahead in collaborating with suppliers to maintain supplier consistency and working exclusively with suppliers that have their own risk controls. These characteristics are typical of organisations that have achieved increased supplier visibility through the use of mature data and analytics capabilities.