Inside Innovation

What are the top supply chain differentiators and innovation drivers? According to the findings of BluJay Solutions’ Focus on Customer Experience: Research on Supply Chain Priorities and Investments report:

• Customer experience reigns supreme. 61% of survey respondents agree or strongly agree that customer experience will overtake price and product as the number one brand differentiator in the next five years. Additionally, "to deliver an enhanced customer experience" rose to the top of the list as the main driver for supply chain innovation, receiving 30% of top factor votes.
• Growing demand for real-time visibility and BI/analytics. In terms of supply chain investment priorities, overall, business intelligence/analytics received the most top factor votes (22%), followed closely by visibility/control tower (21%) and transportation (16%).




• Connecting the ecosystem. A strong partner ecosystem is critical for achieving a frictionless supply chain that enables better and faster decision-making to meet today’s high-speed demands. The survey results show that companies that are more electronically connected to their trading partners are more likely to have better supply chain performance.
• Making supply chain a C-suite conversation. When looking at the factors impacting supply chain innovation the findings reveal that "lack of upper management support for funding/resources" is a significant inhibitor. Particularly, for laggard/late majority companies, it is the biggest barrier to innovation, receiving 23% of top factor votes (compared to 10% for innovator/early adopter companies).