Efficiency and cost savings to take centre stage in 2022 amidst increasing supply chain pressures 

The vast majority (70%) of organisations say improving process efficiency will be a key supply chain management priority in 2022, according to a new survey analysing the state of the real-time visibility market from Sixfold by Transporeon. This is followed by decreasing supply chain costs (50%) and gaining greater visibility into operations (40%) as businesses look to drive growth following the widespread volatility and uncertainty experienced over the last 24 months.

Businesses faced a wide range of logistics issues in 2021, with respondents ranking increasing costs, supply chain disruptions and driver shortages as the top three challenges. This differs from Sixfold’s 2020 survey - where poor visibility into operations and a lack of actionable data/intelligence ranked as the two biggest challenges - suggesting that businesses are increasingly feeling the squeeze after a difficult two years.

Worryingly, just a third (34%) say they are able to respond to today’s challenges effectively. This highlights a need for real-time visibility (RTV),

which can help organisations tackle many of the issues they are facing and meet key business goals. Indeed, businesses recognise the value RTV data can provide. For example, 65% believe it can improve the customer experience, with enhanced operational efficiency and increased agility/resilience rounding out the top three benefits. RTV can also provide transparency into the location and arrival times of shipments, information that 70% of respondents believe is either very important or critical to their operations. However, many are still being held back from implementing real-time data, with financial constraints and a lack of technical skills being the two biggest barriers.

“Although we thought that global supply chains would return to some semblance of normality, 2021 clearly had other ideas. Amidst such pressure, businesses have had to continue evolving in order to survive,” said Jesper Bennike, Executive Director of Sixfold. “However, just 31% of the companies we surveyed regularly use real-time data in their supply chain operations. With the disruption and volatility showing no signs of dissipating, this must change. Businesses must be prepared to embrace digital solutions if they truly want to drive efficiency improvements and cut costs - as well as meet their customer experience and sustainability goals - in 2022 and beyond.”

Sixfold by Transporeon questioned more than 100 logistics professionals from the world’s biggest companies within multiple industries – including FMCG & retail, building materials, automotive and industrial chemicals – about the current state of the supply chain market, as well as their perceptions and use of RTV technology. Respondents were primarily based in Europe, as well as covering North America and Asia.

Read the full report for more stats, deeper analysis into the survey findings and insights from industry experts.