Supply Chain and Operations: How to Turn Your Company’s Hidden Gem into a Driver of Business Growth

Editor’s Note: Don Schulman is Supply Chain & Operations Function senior managing director at Accenture and Kris Timmermans is senior managing director, Supply Chain, Operations & Sustainability lead for Accenture Strategy.

As companies focus their business strategies to center around customers, collaboration within the C-suite is crucial. CEOs have a myriad of answers for revenue growth drivers, but very few will mention “supply chain” or “operations.” In fact, according to new Accenture research, more than three-quarters of companies are missing growth opportunities in the supply chain.

However, select forward-thinking companies (just one in five) defer to the Chief Supply Chain Officers (CSCO) and Chief Operating Officers (COO) to move supply chain and operations beyond cost effectiveness, to a growth enabler, resulting in the ability to meet customer needs, fuel competitiveness and uncover growth. Companies should champion their CSCOs and COOs to take the following actions in order to exceed their expected return on investment.

Build the digital enterprise

Our latest research shows leading companies actively infuse digital intelligence such as big data and analytics throughout their supply chains and operating models. And it's not just digital for digital's sake. Digital intelligence transforms digital supply chain data into real-time, actionable, customer-centric insights. Their efforts are paying off, with nearly two-thirds of leading companies (46%) meeting or exceeding the return on invested capital in digital over the past three years.

Amazon, for instance, is an example of a company doing this right. Amazon's Greengrass software runs on a central platform that connects seamlessly to mobile devices, so they can act locally on the data they generate while still using the cloud for management, analytics and durable storage.

Collaborate across the C-suite on customer centricity

We found that no function “owns” the customer at leading companies. In fact, top COOs and CSCOs have a unique approach to customer centricity. They recognize that each C-Suite member can benefit from the insights that are generated across the supply chain and operations and enable the entire company to become more customer-centric.

While this may sound simple, it changes everything. COOs and CSCOs formalize this collaboration through digital platforms to enable different functions to head toward one North Star: customer centricity.

Maximize ecosystem opportunities

Leading companies also look beyond traditional partners like suppliers and recognize that technology partners, universities, innovation incubators, start-ups and even competitors can help drive relevant new offerings to customers as quickly as possible.

BP is a perfect example of a leading company embracing open co-innovation with other companies. Partnering with tech-startup Kelvin, BP tackled pollution and preventative maintenance at production site wells by combining Big Data and artificial intelligence. BP installed sensors—including methane-detecting cameras—that collect and analyze data about every aspect of the field, including years of maintenance records and even the weather. The result? The methane emissions from these wells decreased 74%, production volumes increased 20% and overall costs dropped 22%. That means greater efficiency, cost savings and business growth.

This is a game-changing moment for COOs and CSCOs, offering an opportunity to transform what was previously known as a support function into fuel for growth. The first step in igniting success across the C-suite is simply by starting a conversation.

COOs and CSCOs must start working on the culture and mindset within the supply chain and operations function by being involved upfront in business conversations, rather than being brought in at the end. By not starting this conversation now, the C-suite is at risk of wasting an opportunity to collectively reinvent and drive new opportunities of growth around the costumer.

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