Picture the following scene: you’re outdoors and you hear thunder, and, looking up to the sky, you see a large, grey rain cloud. You take out your smartphone and find a website selling umbrellas. Having selected your style and color, you press “order” and a mere 5 minutes later, a drone is hovering above you, gently delivering the purchase into your arms – just as the first raindrops begin to fall.

As this paper shows, there is increasing evidence of the link between customer experience and profitability. However, with growth back on the agenda, many supply chains lack the flexibility and agility to compete across a networked supply chain.

Every company is at its own stage in the journey towards a demand-driven supply chain 2.0. The examples in this paper show how some of the better practitioners are gaining essential competitive advantage, by recognizing the holistic and technologically advanced nature of tomorrow’s supply chains.

This report examines how companies can provide an improved customer experience and outpace the competition by upgrading to a demand-driven, responsive supply chain that meets customers’ needs. It outlines steps to help companies achieve a new level of customer responsiveness.