Nearly three-quarters of supply chain executives view technology as fundamental to their company’s growth strategy, according to a study by logistics technology vendor Descartes Systems Group, released this week. The study of nearly 1,000 supply chain and logistics leaders from across Europe, North and South America, and Asia-Pacific identified the increasingly complex global trade environment as a major challenge that technology tools can help tame.
“For companies in diverse industries, global trade has become much more complex, with many new challenges to traditional business operations,” Jackson Wood, director, industry strategy at Descartes, said in a statement announcing the findings. “As businesses contend with tariffs and trade barriers, geopolitical instability, supply chain disruptions and compliance requirements, technology tools can help them build greater agility and resilience into their supply chains to compete more effectively.”
The study found that 74% of the supply chain and logistics leaders surveyed view technology as fundamental or highly important to their organization’s growth strategy in the face of rising global trade challenges, including tariffs and trade barriers, supply chain disruptions and geopolitical instability. The number jumps to 88% for companies expecting greater than 15% growth over the next two years. In addition, 59% said they consider technology as extremely or very important to providing a competitive advantage in international trade.
Companies involved in international trade said there are three main tech-focused capabilities that can help them grow and gain a competitive advantage: 36% of respondents cited global trade intelligence—which can help identify new suppliers, markets, and customers—as the top capability required to deliver the greatest value in the next two years; that was followed by global trade analytics at 27%, and supply chain mapping at 26%.
The results also show that respondents across all industries agree that global trade intelligence is the top technology capability expected to deliver the greatest value over the next two years—including, for example, in manufacturing (40%), wholesale and distribution (44%), finance and insurance (38%), and retail (30%) sectors.
