Accenture Research Reveals Profitability Boost from Mature Supply Chains and AI Integration

Accenture Research Reveals Profitability Boost from Mature Supply Chains and AI Integration

(IN BRIEF) A new Accenture report reveals that companies with the most mature supply chains are 23% more profitable than their peers, largely due to their extensive use of AI and generative AI. The study, which analyzed 1,148 companies across 15 countries and 10 industries, found that top performers use these advanced technologies to enhance efficiency, agility, and sustainability. However, the average supply chain maturity remains low at 36%, indicating a significant need for improvement. Accenture urges companies with lower maturity scores to rapidly adopt next-generation capabilities to stay competitive and thrive in the current economic landscape.

(PRESS RELEASE) DUBLIN, 9-Jul-2024 — /EuropaWire/ — Recent research from Accenture (NYSE: ACN) highlights that companies with highly mature supply chains are 23% more profitable than their peers, driven by their extensive use of AI and generative AI technologies. The report, “Next stop, next-gen,” analyzed 1,148 companies across 15 countries and 10 industries, revealing that the top 10% of companies with the most advanced supply chains achieved 23% higher margins and 15% better shareholder returns between 2019 and 2023.

Supply chain maturity, as defined by Accenture, includes the integration of generative AI, advanced machine learning, and other evolving technologies for autonomous decision-making and continuous improvement. These technologies allow companies to adapt to changes swiftly and seamlessly integrate new technologies.

“Leaders are investing heavily in sophisticated technologies—especially AI and generative AI—to build the next generation of supply chain capabilities,” said Max Blanchet, Accenture’s global strategy lead for supply chains and operations. “These capabilities are essential for efficiency, agility, sustainability, and resilience, moving beyond traditional supply chain drivers like cost, quality, and delivery.”

While only 9% of companies broadly use AI in their supply chains, 37% of the leading companies do so, compared to just 6% of their peers. Leaders also expect significant benefits, such as reducing product development time, developing eco-friendly products, and improving engineering efficiency.

However, the report also reveals a concerning trend: the average supply chain maturity score, although increased by over 50% from 2019 to 2023, remains low at just 36%. This score varies significantly by country and industry, highlighting a need for improvement across the board.

“Many companies are still running supply chains on outdated systems,” said Melissa Twining-Davis, Accenture’s global operations lead for supply chains. “Next-generation capabilities like generative design, highly automated facilities, and advanced analytics are just beginning to show their potential.”

To remain competitive, companies must adopt these next-generation capabilities. Max Blanchet emphasized the urgency: “Companies with supply chain maturity scores of 25% or lower must act fast to catch up, or they risk not surviving in today’s economic and industrial context.”

For further insights, explore Accenture’s report on their thought leadership app, Foresight, available at Accenture Foresight.

About the research
The “Next stop, next-gen” research is based on a survey conducted October 2023 among more than 3,000 supply chain executives in 1,148 companies. Respondents were from the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States. Their companies were from the following industries: Aerospace and Defense, Automotive, Chemicals, Consumer Goods and Services, High Tech, Industrial Equipment, Life Sciences (Pharmaceutical), Metals and Mining, Oil and Gas, and Utilities.

About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent- and innovation-led company with approximately 750,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology and leadership in cloud, data and AI with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. We are uniquely able to deliver tangible outcomes because of our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Song. These capabilities, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients reinvent and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

Media Contact:

Jens Derksen
Accenture
+49 175 57 61393
jens.derksen@accenture.com

SOURCE: Accenture