Why are so Many Companies Dissatisfied with their Supply Chain ROI?

Supply chain blues in the age of the cloud

Given the strategic importance of the supply chain to many businesses, I was surprised to see how many organizations are unhappy with their return on investment (ROI). A recent Nucleus Research survey found 52 percent of deployments are not meeting ROI expectations with 34 percent of companies polled not even bothering to determine if they are getting a payback at all.

I’m not sure which finding is more shocking; the fact that so many customers are dissatisfied with their supply chain software, or that so many aren’t even measuring the value they’re getting. It’s like driving at night without your headlights on.

Just why are so many companies putting their supply chain on autopilot and accepting the status quo? There are highly differentiated solutions available, with the cloud generally delivering better ROI. Clearly the vendors are not successful in communicating this.

This provides a great opportunity for vendors to show value as the industry approaches the cloud inflection point, moving from on-premise. Beyond providing better cloud supply chain software, vendors will have to focus more on educating their customers on strategies to optimize value.

This is an industry where small margins can be vital to success. Cloud solutions not only provide a better overall ROI, but customers also can leverage the versatility of these types of deployments to maximize their investments. Ignore ROI at your own peril.