project44 Survey Finds 73 Percent of Supply Chain Professionals Are Pressured To Improve and Expand Delivery Capabilities, Requiring Improved Collaboration Across Stakeholders, but Collaboration is Lacking

The rapid growth of the Delivery Economy — the pervasive sentiment in which customers expect low-cost, fast and highly transparent delivery of goods — is pressuring companies to quickly address structural supply chain challenges that make it difficult for them to meet increasing customer demands, according to a new report from project44, the global leader in advanced visibility for shippers and logistics service providers.

The new report from project44, “Aligning the Supply Chain In The Age Of The Delivery Economy,” is based on a blind survey of 300 supply chain professionals. It is the second in a series of reports examining the emergence and impact of the Delivery Economy.

The report highlights key issues plaguing both B2B and B2C supply chains and preventing adoption of the organization-wide delivery strategies that will be critical to success. These issues include misalignment between executives and managers, the need for better collaboration between the supply chain and commercial teams, and the continued prevalence of manual processes that expose a lack of critical real-time transportation visibility technology adoption.

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A key finding from the second report is a disconnect between supply chain managers and executives that is impairing their ability to respond to the Delivery Economy. According to the survey, 82% of managers say they are experiencing pressure to improve and expand their capabilities as a result of the Delivery Economy, while only 57% of executives reported feeling the same urgency to offer precise, affordable, fast and transparent delivery experiences.

Additional notable findings from the report outline the pressures supply chain professionals are facing and the challenges making it difficult for them to meet changing delivery expectations, including:

• 73% of supply chain professionals say they’re experiencing pressure to improve and expand their delivery capabilities as a result of the Delivery Economy.
• 85% of B2B companies are feeling the pressure to improve or expand upon delivery capabilities.
• 55% of respondents report that they’re facing the expectation to process and deliver goods faster, and 44% say this is the most challenging customer expectation to meet.
• 79% are using a combination of suboptimal methods to manage processes around production, logistics and delivery throughout the supply chain, including email, spreadsheets and paper documents.
• 79% say operations and marketing have to work interdependently to meet the needs of the Delivery Economy.

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“Supply chain professionals are feeling the pressure of customer demands for faster, cost effective and more transparent delivery,” said Tommy Barnes, President of project44. “These demands only stand to increase, and meeting them will require the adoption of better processes and technology combined with organization-wide collaboration. From marketing to transportation, and from managers to the board room, it is imperative that businesses close the communication gap, so that the entire delivery ecosystem is poised to successfully face a rapidly changing landscape.”

“Older, outdated systems simply aren’t built for the speed of the Delivery Economy. Transportation and logistics processes for most companies haven’t been streamlined in years, and as a result, supply chains are having to upgrade systems and automate more tasks to free up staff to physically work faster in processing orders to meet increasing customer demand for speed,” said Dirk Martin, Senior Director of Transportation, Univar Solutions.

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