June 14, 2023
(press release)
–
Opening Keynote at Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo EMEA Suggests Technology Gains Could be Hampered by Current State of Workforce Gartner experts shared these findings today during the opening keynote presentation at the Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo EMEA, which is taking place here through Wednesday. “There is legitimate excitement today around new technologies that hold out the promise of vastly enhanced organizational productivity,” said Thomas Pocock, Senior Director, Advisory, in Gartner’s Supply Chain Practice. “Supply chain leaders must remember that these new technologies require the partnership of an engaged and productive workforce for these gains to be realized. Unfortunately, the data tells a discouraging story on this front.” Thomas Pocock, senior director in the Gartner Supply Chain practice, kicked off the Opening Keynote at the 2023 Gartner Supply Chain Sympsoium/Xpo EMEA in Barcelona Pocock highlighted data from Gartner’s Global Labor Market Survey from 1Q23 when 2,613 supply chain employees were surveyed to show the extent of supply chain’s labor productivity challenges: Only 25% of the supply chain workforce is fully engaged. Pocock noted that technology is just one of a series of strategies that need to be reinvented to reverse supply chain’s labor productivity slide. He recommended Chief Supply Chain Officers (CSCOs) reexamine their approaches in three key areas: Integrating technology and people strategies: The introduction of new workplace technologies should be designed with the human-technology relationship front and center. Organizations must also create opportunities for reciprocal learning, or the opportunity for employees to safely make sense of new technology and see how technology is incorporating human input. New technology investments must be made side-by-side with equivalent investments in workforce training, skills development and knowledge curation. Individual talent management: High-demand skills are often already available in supply chain organizations but are too often trapped by the rigid nature of job descriptions. CSCOs can unlock more skills and flexibly deploy talent where it is needed by breaking down projects into component tasks and seeking skills needed for those tasks across the entire organization and even beyond it. Organizational design: Organizations can leverage crisis situations and market opportunities as a reason to breakdown silos and find new, more efficient organizational structures. Spontaneous redesign of decision-making processes happened at many companies during the initial disruptions of the COVID era. They can be productively harnessed to build resiliency in the face of new challenges, such as persistent inflationary conditions or changing geopolitical considerations. More information is available in the Future of Supply Chain ebook. About Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo™ About the Gartner Supply Chain Practice
New technologies ranging from smart robotics to actionable AI have the potential to transform the supply chain function, but they will fail to lift historically low levels of labor productivity unless utilized as part of a broader strategy, according to Gartner, Inc.
Turnover is 33% higher in the supply chain function than pre-pandemic.
Only 16% of the supply chain workforce is willing to go “above and beyond” in their roles.
"Introducing new technologies, especially of the magnitude of AI or smart robots, would come with implementation challenges at any time,” said Pocock. “Any new technology introduced in this environment is likely to be met with elevated levels of mistrust and change fatigue. It’s clear there needs to be a new strategy to make such integrations work for all sides.”
Gartner experts are discussing key issues facing the industry during Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo. The conference delivers the must-have insights, strategies and frameworks for CSCOs and supply chain leaders to drive impact within their organizations. Supply chain leaders are gathering to gain a strategic view of the trends disrupting their business and the insights and frameworks they can use to prepare for disruption, enable digital transformation and build sustainability as a competitive advantage.
The Gartner Supply Chain Practice provides actionable, objective insights for supply chain leaders and their teams, so they can respond to disruption and innovate for the future through leading-edge supply chain management practices. Additional information is available at https://www.gartner.com/en/supply-chain. Follow news and updates from the Gartner Supply Chain Practice on LinkedIn and Twitter using #GartnerSC. Visit the Supply Chain Newsroom for more information and insights.
* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.
