In our 2024 end-of-year survey, Supply Chain Planning was one of the topics our Indago supply chain research community members said they wanted us to research more in 2025. Therefore, in January 2025, we explored some initial questions with our members — who are all supply chain and logistics executives from manufacturing, retail, and distribution companies — on this topic.
By a large margin, ERP topped the list of solutions our members use for supply chain planning, with 88% of the respondents selecting it. This was followed by Demand Planning & Forecasting (50%), Production Planning & Scheduling (46%), and Transportation Planning (46%).
Only 29% of the respondents said their demand and supply forecasts were 80% or more accurate on average; 30% said that their demand forecasts were less than 70% accurate, while 25% said the same about their supply forecasts.
“Supply Planning has been long overlooked and is a significant opportunity at our organization,” said one supply chain executive member. “Our biggest challenges are around lack of visibility to clean data, lack of integrated tools, lack of expertise, and internal resistance to change. We plan to integrate a demand planning tool with our ERP and roll-out a robust S&OP process in parallel.”
Here are some other comments submitted by Indago supply chain executives:
“Being in the CPG space, we have a great idea of what our customers will purchase, however, given the current economy, it has been more challenging to forecast. Even our customers’ forecasts are overstated. We are investigating AI demand sensing to assist with more accurate planning.”
“Lack of collaboration, lack of relevant and accurate data, lack of real-time performance monitoring, lack of fundamental process ‘rules’, allowing exceptions to create disruptions in the planning/execution to plan, and lack of overall alignment across functional areas (including the customer) are the root causes of the planning challenges we face.”
“Most of our challenges revolve around our approval and trust related to the forecasts we generate. Delays and issues often occur because senior leadership doesn’t trust the models and other inputs we receive on our forecasts.”
“Lack of good systems and skilled supply chain planners make processes twice as difficult as they need to be.”
We also asked our Indago members: How would you rate the effectiveness of collaboration with trading partners in your supply chain planning process?
For insights on that question and more, Indago members can download the full report.
In the meantime, how about you? What is the root cause of the most common planning challenge you face? What is the top improvement your organization plans to make in supply chain planning over the next 12 months? Post a comment and share your perspective!
The Road to 1,000 Indago Members
This past March marked 6 years since we launched Indago. Our goal is to reach 1,000 members by the end of 2025 — and to break the $30,000 mark in charity donations since we launched.
Why join Indago? Here’s how a couple of our members answered that question:
“Joining Indago has been great. On a monthly basis I complete an easy, 5 minute survey about important topics in Supply Chain (I often complete the survey on my smartphone). I find value in completing the survey; it gives me a reason to spend a moment defining my perspective on strategic topics. In return, I am able to see the results of the survey and the perspectives of my peers. On a few occasions, I’ve reconsidered my position based on what the community suggests, and other times, I’m happy to see the validation of my views (especially on topics that have been overhyped in the trade journals). Because the surveys are anonymous, it’s a risk free way to engage the Supply Chain community and get quick, honest feedback.” — VP of Operations, Food & Beverage Company
“I decided to join Indago for two reasons. One is to be part of a group that provides real time feedback from companies on topics in the supply chain world. The second reason is that Indago supports charities that make the world a better place. It’s a great one – two combination!” — Director of Freight & Warehousing, $1B+ Food & Beverage Company
So, what are you waiting for? Find out what you’ve been missing and join Indago today!
If you’re a supply chain or logistics practitioner from a MANUFACTURING, RETAIL, or DISTRIBUTION company and you’re interested in learning from your peers, I encourage you to learn more about Indago and join our research community. It is confidential, there is no cost to join and the time commitment is minimal (2-4 minutes per week) — plus your participation will help support charitable causes like Breakthrough T1D, American Logistics Aid Network, American Cancer Society, Feeding America, and Make-A-Wish.
(If you’re a TECHNOLOGY VENDOR or THIRD-PARTY LOGISTICS COMPANY, please do not apply. If you’re interested in receiving our research results and contributing questions for us to ask our members, we have a subscription service available. Please contact me for additional information.)
