2024 Supply Chain Priorities, Challenges, and Trends

Supply chains head into 2024 with a clear message from last year’s performance: success is far from guaranteed. In APQC’s global survey of 352 respondents, 44% of participants said their supply chain hit 2023 business targets, but only 38% reported that result among APQC’s research participants—an indicator that 2023 was rough across industries. Even more telling, just 20% said they were on target or exceeded peers and competitors, the lowest level in APQC’s five-year tracking period outside the disruption of 2020. That gap matters because it frames 2024 not as a “return to normal,” but as a year where organizations must prove resilience and measurable improvement despite ongoing uncertainty.

APQC’s outlook for the next three years puts “uncertainty” at the center of planning, and the top trends skew heavily toward technology and data discipline. Big data and advanced analytics remains the leading anticipated trend, driven by the flood of internal and external information from suppliers and customers. Digital supply chain sits close behind, as companies push to connect physical operations with digital tools while ensuring a return on investment. A new addition—data management—rises into the top tier, reflecting a growing recognition that unreliable inputs undermine forecasting and downstream decisions (“garbage in, garbage out”). Process standardization also climbs, because scenario planning and contingency execution require consistent ways of working. Sustainability/ESG moves up as regulation expands across regions and jurisdictions, while cloud services continue to support remote access and operational continuity.

Yet the biggest barriers to improvement don’t come down to a lack of ambition. When asked what most prevents progress, respondents selected lack of collaboration as the top obstacle (37%), a problem that has stayed near the top for at least three years. APQC’s research also points to implementation friction: organizations may invest in new technologies, but they struggle to integrate them into daily work and capture value. That challenge is increasingly tied to change management, governance, and the need to coordinate across internal functions and external stakeholders—often treated as an “ecosystem” rather than a simple supply chain.

Funding signals continued commitment, even as priorities sharpen. While investment levels are easing slightly, 56% of respondents plan to increase supply chain funding in 2024 (down from 66% the prior year). Talent remains a pressure point: competition for skilled workers is intense, and layoffs driven by economic uncertainty make workforce planning a continuing risk.

AI adoption is growing but not yet mainstream. Only about a quarter of respondents use AI extensively across supply chain activities, with demand forecasting and predictive maintenance leading current use. Generative AI stands out for headline attention but is less widespread in practice: 36% are using it, while 45% plan to invest.

APQC then narrows the focus to four priority areas for 2024—supply chain planning, sourcing and procurement, innovation, and logistics/inventory management. Integrated business planning becomes the standout within planning, jumping to 49% as the top focus area, reflecting a push to align business goals across functions. Supplier relationship management leads sourcing priorities, alongside risk mitigation and sustainability data needs (including scope 3 emissions). Innovation emphasizes operational/process change and employee engagement, while logistics priorities center on inventory optimization and supply chain visibility extending to second- and third-tier suppliers.

With global concerns running high—APQC reports 25% “extremely concerned” about the future of global supply chain—recommendations converge on a practical playbook: strengthen data and analytics foundations, stay alert to external changes, collaborate across stakeholders, and treat innovation as a core organizational goal. The underlying theme is that resilience is no longer optional; it’s the operating requirement for 2024’s unknowns.