TH E Q U E STION
Supply Chain Visibility: How do you turn it into a competitive advantage?
TH E Q U E STION
Supply Chain Visibility: How do you turn it into a competitive advantage? In each edition, we invite business leaders from across the supply chain sector to give their views on the same question 2 | Supply Chain Outlook Issue 11
THE QUESTION SUPPLY CHAIN VISIBILITY
JUANJO MESTRE CEO and co-Founder, Dcycle Most companies don’t have a supply chain data problem. They struggle with visibility. Finance knows what things cost. Procurement knows how suppliers perform. Sustainability holds the emissions picture. Three functions, three partial views of one supply chain – sitting in separate systems and on separate timelines, so nobody sees the whole thing at once. The money isn’t hidden in the supply chain; it’s hidden in the gap between the systems that describe it. Manufacturers can save up to €720,000 a year by gaining visibility on supply chain data and simply connecting the data they already hold within the company. Carbon intensity is a cost signal most companies never read as one. High carbon usually means more material, more transport, more energy, and more process steps — which is to say, more cost. The competitive advantage lies in taking action from the reporting. It is the ability to connect data and act on operational reality, allowing businesses to locate capital that was already there but hidden in the gap between the systems that finance, procurement, and sustainability teams were each running in isolation. That’s how companies can invest in innovation and competitiveness. dcycle.io
SIMON THOMPSON Vice President Northern Europe, JAGGAER Most companies think visibility means knowing where a shipment is. That’s table stakes. Real visibility means seeing three tiers deep into your supplier network, spotting a bottleneck before it becomes a stockout, and having the clean data to act on it in minutes, not weeks. The winners aren’t the ones who react fastest to disruption; they’re the ones who never get surprised in the first place. That shift, from firefighting to foresight, is where visibility stops being an IT project and starts being a genuine competitive edge. The organisations pulling ahead right now are treating supplier collaboration and data quality as strategic assets, not back-office chores. It also has to be a team sport. The moment you treat supplier relationships as a power play, you lose the early warning signal that makes visibility worth having in the first place, and that discipline can’t stop at Tier 1. The businesses getting real value are quantifying it too, asking what share of spend sits with a singlesource supplier, or in a high-risk region, and using that answer to build the case to their board. That’s when visibility stops being a cost line and becomes the reason you win the next contract. www.jaggaer.com
Supply Chain Outlook Issue 11 | 3
THE QUESTION SUPPLY CHAIN VISIBILITY
GIANLUCA CASANOVA Global Procurement and Operations Excellence Leader, ABB Smart Buildings For years, most manufacturers measured supply chain emissions using spend-based Scope 3 estimates. It was a necessary starting point, but too broad to drive action. You can’t improve what you can’t see. Today, the opportunity lies in combining verified carbon data with visibility into circular materials. At ABB Smart Buildings, we’re moving beyond category averages and tracking product carbon footprints, from a specific circuit breaker to a light switch. Combined with supplier sustainability data provided by EcoVadis, this gives us a clearer understanding of where emissions originate and improvements can be made. The same transparency is increasingly important for circularity. Understanding recycled content, material origin, and end-of-life recovery enables procurement teams to make sourcing decisions that balance cost, performance, and environmental impact. This shift is influencing market behaviour. Customers can compare products using a verified product carbon footprint and environmental product declaration data, whilst sustainability criteria are embedded in tender evaluations, particularly in the Nordics and the Netherlands.
TOBY NEWMAN CEO, Secaro Supply chain visibility can boost competitiveness in three different ways. It can help manage risks, remove inefficiencies, and build more productive, mutually beneficial relationships between value chain partners. Knowing your risks is always a competitive advantage. Supply chain visibility enables the identification of areas of vulnerability – energy uncertainty, dependency on high freshwater volumes, or rare earth minerals, for example. By identifying these dependencies alongside regional data on energy volatility, carbon tax, human rights risks, or water scarcity, companies can implement mitigatory measures that prevent costly supply chain disruption. Supply chain visibility also enables companies to pinpoint inefficiencies. Whether they involve energy or material use, or potential hidden compliance costs, each inefficiency adds up, reducing margins and impacting competitiveness. To obtain visibility across supply chains, companies should strengthen relationships with their manufacturing partners. Driving greater visibility results in shared savings and better trust and collaboration. This provides the right environment for innovation and mutually beneficial progress. secaro.io
4 | Supply Chain Outlook Issue 11
The competitive advantage comes from data that is transparent, verifiable, and actionable. Visibility is no longer about reporting. It’s about enabling better purchasing decisions, accelerating circularity, and building trust. As sustainability requirements become stricter, suppliers who can prove their impact will outperform those who can only estimate it. new.abb.com
THE QUESTION SUPPLY CHAIN VISIBILITY
CARMEL GIBLIN CEO and President, Ethical Supply Chain Program Consumers increasingly expect transparency about where and how products are made – and may walk away from brands that fall short. Organisations that work constructively with suppliers and take worker well-being seriously can strengthen trust, protect their reputation, and differentiate themselves from competitors. Meaningful visibility involves more than a supplier audit. It requires an understanding of day-to-day workplace experience. A well-designed worker helpline gives employers and workers a safe, trusted, and confidential channel to communicate, resolve misunderstandings, and identify opportunities for improvement. It supports workplace harmony and business performance, rather than creating an adversarial relationship. Feedback can help suppliers address root causes before concerns develop into absenteeism, staff turnover, work stoppages, or production delays. Earlier action reduces disruption, lowers costs, and supports a stable, productive workforce. Handled responsibly, aggregated and anonymised insights can identify recurring themes, show where training or management support would help, and guide practical supplier engagement. Clear safeguards over privacy, access, and purpose are essential, particularly across different legal and cultural settings. Organisations that use worker feedback to make targeted, locally appropriate improvements can strengthen supplier relationships and labour practices whilst improving resilience, productivity, and continuity. That turns visibility into a tangible competitive advantage. www.ethicalsupplychain.org
RACHEL DELACOUR CEO and co-Founder, Sweep For years, supply chain resilience has been viewed as a question of logistics. Today, it’s increasingly a question of intelligence. Businesses can’t manage what they can’t see. From supplier mapping and material sourcing to emissions and energy use, having access to timely, reliable sustainability data gives organisations a clear picture of where risks lie and opportunities exist. That visibility enables leaders to identify fragile supplier relationships, dependencies on materials, and operational inefficiencies before they become costly disruptions. In an increasingly volatile world, shaped by geopolitical tensions, extreme climate events, and evolving regulation, resilience depends on informed decision-making. The commercial benefits are already here. Organisations using sustainability data are reducing waste, improving logistics, and lowering operating costs. CNW IT-Systeme, for example, reduced operational costs by 12 percent after using sustainability data to identify inefficiencies in energy consumption and optimise its logistics network. Sustainability data has become a strategic business asset. Companies that embed sustainability intelligence into everyday procurement, operations, and risk decision-making will not only be better prepared for future disruptions, but may also improve resource efficiency, strengthen supplier decisions, and build a more resilient competitive position. sweep.net
Supply Chain Outlook Issue 11 | 5
THE QUESTION SUPPLY CHAIN VISIBILITY
SHARATH MUDDAIAH Head of Global Customer Success and Business Strategy IoT Solutions, Giesecke+Devrient The recent rise in cargo theft has brought the need for supply chain visibility into sharp focus. No longer dominated by smash-and-grab incidents, cargo crime is becoming increasingly sophisticated, with identity-based theft now prevalent.
Criminals have been impersonating carriers, spoofing emails, hijacking carrier IDs, and rerouting loads using convincing paperwork. With many stolen goods never recovered, these thefts are costing the industry more than £1 billion since 2020. Fortunately, preventative technology is growing in sophistication, providing the visibility businesses need to react quickly when things go off course. Real-time tracking is enabling businesses to identify unexpected stops, route deviations, or movement beyond an agreed area. These alerts give companies an opportunity to intervene during the short window of time when goods may still be recoverable. Sensor technology is also adding an extra layer of sophistication. It gives companies the ability to detect not just whether a parcel or container is on track, but whether it has been opened, damaged, or exposed to temperature changes. In turn, this gives shippers and carriers access to verifiable information that supports faster decisions, strengthens resilience, and builds trust. Used well, supply chain visibility becomes more than a safeguard; it can be a competitive advantage. www.gi-de.com
DAVID VALLEJO Vice President and Global Head of Supply Chain, SAP Supply chain visibility is often confused with more and fresher data. That’s one important foundation, but competitive advantage comes from the shorter distance between data, insight, and action. If your visibility lives in one system and your planning lives in another, you’re not running a supply chain. You’re running a relay race with a baton that keeps getting dropped. Real competitive advantage comes when visibility is natively connected to execution — when the moment a supplier signals a delay, your planning, procurement, and logistics are already recalibrating; not because someone built a dashboard, but because intelligence is embedded into the workflow. The companies pulling ahead aren’t the ones with the most screens showing colourful doughnut charts. They’re the ones where an artificial intelligence (AI) agent can detect an anomaly at 2 AM, model five response scenarios, and surface a recommended action before a human even logs onto the computer Monday morning. Visibility without action is just anxiety at scale. The question isn’t whether you can see your supply chain. It’s whether your supply chain can think and act more autonomously. www.sap.com
6 | Supply Chain Outlook Issue 11
THE QUESTION SUPPLY CHAIN VISIBILITY
NICK BOYER Senior Director of Strategic Consulting, Conga
ROB SHAW General Manager EMEA, Fluent Commerce Supply chain visibility becomes a genuine competitive advantage when retailers move beyond simply knowing where inventory is and use real-time data to make faster, smarter decisions. With 70 percent of retailers experiencing supply chain disruption over the past year, resilience and the ability to respond quickly have become businesscritical. Accurate, real-time inventory visibility gives retailers a clear picture of stock across stores, warehouses, in-transit inventory, and back orders. This allows them to make more reliable promises to customers, optimise fulfilment and intelligent order routing, and respond quickly when disruption occurs. It can also help protect margins by reducing costly rerouting, overselling, and cancellations. But visibility alone isn’t enough. The real advantage comes from connecting inventory data across the entire supply chain and turning that insight into action. Technology such as distributed order management can help retailers intelligently determine how and where orders should be fulfilled, whilst providing the flexibility to adapt when circumstances change. Retailers that take a strategic approach to realtime visibility will be better positioned to anticipate disruption, improve operational resilience, and deliver the seamless, reliable experiences customers increasingly expect.
Supply chain visibility only becomes a competitive advantage when businesses can act on the information they have. Most organisations already track inventory and demand well. What’s often missing is connecting that operational data to the commercial reality behind it — the contracts, pricing terms, and supplier commitments that were actually agreed. Without that link, teams can see that something has changed, but not why it matters commercially, or what obligations are already in place with customers and suppliers. When operational and commercial data sit in the same picture, teams can spot risk earlier, forecast with more confidence, and renegotiate or reprioritise quickly when conditions shift – rather than finding out after the fact. The advantage doesn’t come from having more data. It comes from closing the gap between what a business knows and what it’s contractually committed to — and acting on that in real time. conga.com
fluentcommerce.com
Supply Chain Outlook Issue 11 | 7
THE QUESTION SUPPLY CHAIN VISIBILITY
JORN VAN DE PLAS SVP Air Network and GTS Europe, FedEx Express Supply chain visibility has evolved from an operational necessity into a competitive differentiator. In today’s environment, businesses need more than tracking capabilities. They need actionable insights that help them anticipate disruptions, make faster decisions, and deliver a better customer experience. At FedEx, we deliver almost 18 million packages a day, giving us a broad view of global supply chains and trends. We’re seeing demand for solutions that don’t just show where a shipment is but help customers understand what could happen next. FedEx Surround is an example of this shift. By combining near real-time shipment visibility, AI and predictive
8 | Supply Chain Outlook Issue 11
analytics, weather alerts, and proactive intervention capabilities, it enables businesses to manage risk effectively and act before delays occur. FedEx Surround was initially launched during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide greater visibility into vaccine transportation. We now use it globally to deliver faster, more tailored services. One US customer told us FedEx Surround saves him six to 12 hours every month, previously spent tracking packages and requesting status updates. Ultimately, the value of supply chain visibility lies in transforming data into smarter decisions. Businesses that do so will be best positioned to drive growth, improve customer satisfaction, and gain a lasting competitive edge.
www.fedex.com
THE QUESTION SUPPLY CHAIN VISIBILITY
AMY WORTH Director, Amazon Business UK With businesses navigating uncertainty and supplier disruptions, the importance of good supply chain visibility has never been clearer. Nearly a third of procurement professionals see supply chain disruption as the most likely reason for an operational risk or challenge, according to our 2025 State of Procurement Data report. Resilience has become the driver for many businesses to improve visibility, and organisations that get this right gain an advantage in three ways. First, it enables them to turn real-time data into actionable insights. Having purchasing activity, supplier performance, and spending patterns as raw data is the first step in mitigating risk. Second, businesses can anticipate disruptions before they escalate. The same research found that developing a broader supplier base is very important or a top priority for 67 percent of senior leaders. Clear visibility lets them make strategic sourcing decisions early, like activating back-up suppliers to fulfil orders, for example. Third, they can review data cross-functionally. Regularly reviewing supply chain and operational data with the wider team, such as leadership, marketing, and sales, supports budget planning, product priorities, and supplier audits. This is what helps businesses to act faster, mitigate risk, and be more strategic, giving them a competitive advantage. business.amazon.co.uk
NICK HEINZMANN Head of Research, Zip Traditionally, supply chain visibility meant knowing your direct suppliers and the tiers beneath them. That definition is expanding now that most AI vendors carry their own AI supply chain underneath: the foundation model, where inference runs, and the subprocessors behind it – whether hosted by a frontier model or using self-hosted open weights. If procurement can’t see that layer, it can’t price the
regulatory exposure, internet protocol, and data privacy risk, or the real unit economics it’s signing up for. Seeing it is only the first step, because the protection lives in the contract terms. The job for procurement professionals evaluating their AI supply chain is really about visibility. The need to see beyond cost into the origin of intelligence and how it’s being managed and governed. We believe governance is what lets enterprises adopt AI fast without stopping. That’s the competitive advantage: access to the best technology suppliers without taking on risk you haven’t priced, including the shadow AI already running unsanctioned inside the business. With that visibility, you can stay efficient, get more value from your team, and stay on the frontier, capturing more of AI’s upside without accepting unforeseen risk. www.zip.com
Supply Chain Outlook Issue 11 | 9
THE QUESTION SUPPLY CHAIN VISIBILITY
EMILE NAUS Partner, BearingPoint Managing a supply chain depends on having visibility of stock, orders, product, and customer data. The benefits of extending this visibility across the wider supply chain ecosystem are clear and proven. Making it happen in reality is much harder. The cost of not having visibility is typically in missed sales, excess inventory, and additional handling and firefighting. The issue is not technological. Data sharing protocols and supply chain orchestration systems exist and are widely used. The issue is mostly cultural and commercial. Supply chain collaboration is required to establish visibility, but supply networks are often turned into competitive arenas. Suppliers typically work with multiple, competing customers; customers work with multiple, competing suppliers. Trust is a critical component and would require a significant effort from all parties in a consistent way. The benefits are substantial. The system has a balance of cost, working capital, and service. Without collaboration, that system is fixed; with collaboration, you can extend the system and have the option to reduce costs and working capital or extend service. From a shareholder perspective, getting higher revenues against lower cost and working capital delivers material improvement in key financial ratios, such as return on investment. www.bearingpoint.com
IAN THOMPSON Vice President Northern Europe, Ivalua Modern supply chains are more complex than ever, with organisations relying on a massive network of suppliers, subcontractors, and third parties across multiple regions. In this environment, the goal shouldn’t be to predict supplier failure – that’s a pipe dream. Instead, organisations need greater visibility across their entire supply chain. This visibility can be used as a competitive advantage to spot the
10 | Supply Chain Outlook Issue 11
early warning signs of delays or issues with suppliers, and act before disruption can impact operations. AI can play a critical role here, helping organisations connect and analyse vast amounts of supplier data to identify emerging risks and prioritise where action is needed. But AI is only as effective as the data it’s working with, and up to 50 percent of organisations admit their data is not AI-ready. For leaders to establish a competitive advantage, achieving unified, governed, and reliable data is crucial.
www.ivalua.com
THE QUESTION SUPPLY CHAIN VISIBILITY
BEAT SIMON CEO – Logistics, DP World Knowing where a shipment is matters. But it only creates an advantage if it helps you decide what to do next and gives you a realistic plan of action. This is where many supply chains still fall short. They can show you that something is delayed, but not always why it is happening, what it will affect, or which alternative will keep things moving. More data does not solve that problem on its own. The real test is whether visibility helps people act earlier. Can they spot a risk before it becomes a disruption? Can they see the knock-on effects? Can they make a decision whilst there are still options available? That requires a view of the whole journey, from purchase order to final delivery, but it also requires the ability to influence what happens along the way. If a route, port, or part of the network is disrupted, having alternatives matters. So does having the operational control to put those alternatives into practice. Ultimately, competitive advantage will not come from knowing more about the supply chain. It will come from seeing what is changing, understanding what it means, and being able to do something about it. www.dpworld.com
SHIRELL JAMES Vice President of Supply Chain Advisory, Blue Yonder To turn supply chain visibility into a genuine competitive advantage, organisations must move from passive monitoring to proactive execution. Whilst basic visibility simply alerts leaders to disruptions after they occur, competitive visibility integrates end-to-end data across planning, suppliers, logistics, and control towers to enable real-time tactical decision-making. True resilience relies on connecting external market events directly to internal operations. Instead of constantly firefighting, resilient businesses leverage unified data to detect pinch points, evaluate impacts on lead times or constraints, and act before disruptions escalate. Crucially, technology alone isn’t enough. Clean, connected data forms the foundation for effective AI adoption and predictive automation. However, turning visibility into a long-term edge requires deep, trustbased collaboration with suppliers. By moving past transactional exchanges and sharing richer operational data, such as live inventory, production capacity, and warehouse performance, companies build shared value. Ultimately, organisations that pair real-time data integration with strong leadership and supplier trust can adapt faster than competitors, maintain service levels, and reliably protect their bottom line during volatile times. blueyonder.com
Supply Chain Outlook Issue 11 | 11
TH E Q U E STION
PRODUCED BY SUPPLY CHAIN OUTLOOK MAGAZINE