The findings come from a survey included in the recently released report titled “ Data-Driven Decisions: Why Many Supply Chains Are Falling Behind”.
As part of the report, FourKites partnered with YouGov to poll 250 UK and 250 US supply chain leaders across every industry to understand how they’re digitising their supply chains and mitigating risk.
The pollsters found that 61% of UK respondents recognise the importance of connecting disparate supply chain data, compared to 82% of US respondents. 30% of UK respondents also plan to invest in technology to de-risk their supply chain over the next six to 12 months, compared to 54% of respondents in the US.
However, FourKites says that supply chain leaders are struggling to extract the information they need to make the data-driven decisions that will help them meet their strategic objectives.
Specifically, 62% of UK respondents say their supply chain digitisation is sub-par, whereas only 34% of American respondents said the same.
“Two-thirds of responding companies are using supply chain data only for simple, day-to-day tasks — many have yet to realise the opportunity to look at their supply chain end-to-end to make informed, strategic decisions,” said FourKites Chief Strategy Officer Fabrizio Brasca. “At the root of this issue is the ongoing struggle to fully digitise the supply chain and have a single source of data. For instance, with a real-time view of inventory levels across facilities, supply chain leaders can proactively mitigate the risk of stockouts and prevent orders from being cut, leading to a better end-customer experience.”
Other key findings from the report include:
- 35% of UK respondents are using supply chain data to make strategic decisions, while 19% say that supply chain data isn’t being used at all to make any type of decision
- More than half of UK respondents (62%) rate themselves as “not great” or “struggling” at digitising their supply chain (compared to 34% of US respondents)
- 43% of all respondents struggle to integrate internal systems and have a single source of truth
- 30% of UK respondents are looking to invest in technology in the next six to 12 months, which is lower than the percentage of US respondents (54%). Investments are even more pronounced among enterprise companies, where 70% of US and UK leaders plan to increase their tech investment.
- Nearly 52% of all companies surveyed are diversifying their supplier/provider base in their efforts to de-risk their supply chains
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