Evolution of the chief supply chain officer role

Authored by Patrick Gallagher and Tim Gaus

Chief supply chain officers today

Traditionally, the role of a chief supply chain officer (CSCO) was to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization’s day-to-day operations. Given current complexities in the business landscape such as disruptive technologies, interconnected supply chains, changing economic headwinds and increasing customer expectations, the CSCO’s mandate is growing rapidly.

To meet today’s business challenges, chief supply chain officers must achieve their long-established responsibilities while also serving as strategic thought leaders, champions of large-scale transformations, managers of key internal and external relationships and arbiters of supply chain and business continuity.

CSCO outlook: Focus areas and priorities

We met with several of Deloitte’s senior leaders to learn about their experiences navigating the requirements and pressures of the current business environment. Based on our discussions, we’ve identified three broad focus areas facing today’s chief supply chain officers.

Reimagining supply chain collaboration

1. Engaging in traditional objectives—including meeting operational metrics, implementing concepts of lean and Six Sigma, and optimizing manufacturing and distribution networks—merits their continued attention and strategic thought.
2. Fostering innovation for agile business transformations by identifying and implementing best-in-class technologies, fit-for-purpose platforms and use cases.
3. Addressing new challenges in supply chain trends—such as building the workforce of the future amid rapid technology adoption; environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations; supply chain visibility, agility and resilience; and increasing customer expectations—that pose new challenges and priorities.

As we analyzed the focus areas, nine priorities for CSCOs became clear. See figure 1 for details.

­ Figure 1: Top CSCO priorities

The nine priorities carry varying degrees of CSCO share of mind and financial impact for different organizations. See figure 2 for a representative 3×3 graph, which will of course vary by organization within an industry and across different industries.

Figure 2: Mindshare vs. financial impact of CSCO priorities

New priorities, new opportunities

The increased, expanded responsibilities of CSCOs provide new options and opportunities to influence critical business decisions for their organizations. Below are expanded descriptions of each of the nine CSCO priorities we have identified.

1. Use lean and manufacturing-excellence principles to exceed key performance indicators: Traditional CSCO responsibilities—such as balancing cost performance and quality, maintaining the pulse of internal operations and making data-driven decisions—remain necessary for running the business day to day. Today, however, CSCOs also serve as strategic generalists capable of responding to a variety of business situations while driving long-term growth.
2. Optimize the organization’s footprint: An enterprise’s sourcing and manufacturing footprints must align with its overall business goals and objectives. Chief supply chain officers play a central role in managing shifts in supply and demand, increased cost pressures, and complex geopolitical realities—wars, trade tariffs, currency fluctuations, port congestion, etc.—that impact company operations.
3. Leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and Generative AI (GenAI): As technological innovation accelerates, manufacturers need to stay ahead of the technology curve without rushing into potentially unscalable solutions. CSCOs need to drive the adoption of process automation enabled by AI and GenAI as well as work closely with chief information officers (CIOs) to navigate technical challenges and data integration.
4. Manage data effectively: The exponential growth of data and computing power has outpaced the ability of organizations to generate meaningful insights from data. CSCOs must lead efforts to develop processes and systems to leverage data stored in siloed systems to generate meaningful insights and drive operational improvements.
5. Adopt best-in-class manufacturing and supply chain technologies: Advanced manufacturing and supply chain requires complex technology infrastructure. Chief supply chain officers can embrace a new paradigm of software-defined manufacturing to further optimize operations—adopting context-specific smart manufacturing technologies by evaluating the business case with human, product and infrastructure implications in mind.
6. Build the workforce of tomorrow: A forward-looking talent strategy that embraces diversity, fosters innovation and promotes a culture of continuous learning is critical to ensure workforce continuity. The CSCO role is integral to implement policies and adopt best practices needed to attract young talent, retain a skilled workforce, navigate unions to create win-wins, upskill talent, and ensure regulatory and safety compliance.
7. Build supply chain agility: Flexible and responsive supply chains are needed to adapt to both complex geopolitical situations and increasing customization requirements from customers. Chief supply chain officers must build capabilities in their teams to identify global risk events early and increase supply chain flexibility to respond proactively and minimize operational loss.
8. Reduce carbon footprints: ESG initiatives, particularly those related to reducing energy consumption, can be effective tools to help the business decrease operating costs, boost margins and enhance brand value. Chief supply chain officers can embrace market opportunities generated by ESG, including new products, business models and customer engagement methods—creating value beyond regulatory compliance.
9. Create operational flexibility: Customer engagement is critical to meet an organization’s business goals and often requires adjusting operations to meet changing customer needs. Chief supply chain officers can drive the optimization of product portfolios, manufacturing, supply chains and order visibility while collaborating with research and development (R&D) and engineering departments to push new products to market.

A forward approach for CSCO success

Chief supply chain officers are uniquely positioned in today’s complex business environment to steer their organizations toward sustained competitiveness. To succeed, they must balance traditional CSCO responsibilities while embracing strategic planning and innovation. This includes:

• Leading a digitization agenda for the supply chain and evaluating available technology options to identify no-regret technology investments.
• Providing opportunities for learning and upskilling to build the workforce of tomorrow.
• Embracing change and agility to accept new and enhanced responsibilities.
• Driving optimization outside of traditional boundaries and across the organization—connecting with engineering, R&D, finance, sales, marketing and after-sales support to accelerate value for customers.

By adopting these strategies, CSCOs can transform their supply chains into resilient, efficient and agile networks that not only withstand the complexities of the modern business environment, but also drive organizational success and competitive advantage.