Dive Brief:

• Top procurement retail executives assert that the application of supply chain technology offers a significant advantage over competitors, according to C2FO's inaugural retail pulse survey, as provided to Supply Chain Dive. 
• Of those professionals surveyed, 97% said that supply chain tech could at least somewhat provide a competitive advantage, with 73.5% stating that the tech provides a significant advantage over competitors. 71% of those surveyed revealed that they plan on investing in logistics technology over the course of the next year.
• Despite company awareness of the need for adapting supply chain tech, only 47.5% surveyed admitted that they are at least somewhat agile at adopting innovative tech, with 31% stating that they are not very agile at all.

Dive Insight:

The chasm between what procurement executives know about what supply chain technology offers, and what they actually will do to implement said tech, is the gap that shapes the level of risk exposure for future business success. While the reduction of operating and support costs is always going to be top of mind for professionals, surveys such as C2FO's reveal that they also understand on some level that applying supply chain tech to their business will ultimately enhance their decision-making and streamline processes. And yet, as retail companies face tightening margins in the midst of the competitive landscape, said tech is often overlooked.

Those companies that fail to make the proper investments now are going to be soon left behind, as the rest of the supply chain world moves forward. In some cases, the name of the game is literally "Procurement," as companies such as SAP Ariba are developing artificial intelligence in the form of chatbots to streamline the procurement process between buyers and sellers. However, SAP Ariba can only build the common platform; the procurement execs still must decide whether what they know — that supply chain tech will eventually determine their success or failure — overrides what they can justify to loosen the purse strings. 

Until execs reach that inflection point, Procurement AI and other innovative tech will continue to eat alone at the table.