Blog Posts

Weathering the Storm: 3 Lessons from the 2025 Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo

3 minute read

Thousands of supply chain leaders gathered in Orlando this year for the 2025 Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo, exploring the path forward during global volatility. The central theme? Learning how to adapt. And not just to the latest tech or trends, but to uncertainty itself.

Catena Solutions’ Senior Vice President Geoff Coltman and Supply Chain Practice Director Geoff Olsen attended the event and returned with a clear takeaway: disruption is here to stay.

However, organizations that succeed won’t be the ones that try to predict every twist and turn, but those that innovate their processes to stay ahead of external forces. Here’s what our team learned:

#1: Don’t just add tech, fix the foundation first

Gartner predicts that by 2028, 60% of digital supply chain initiatives will fall short of expectations. That’s because many companies are layering new technology onto broken foundations, outdated processes, messy data, and unclear goals.

What should businesses do? Pause before scaling. Organizations seeing real progress are focusing on these things first:

• Cleaning up their data so systems can work off accurate inputs
• Strengthening their processes so technology doesn’t amplify existing problems
• Clarifying their strategy, so every tool has a purpose, not just a cost

There’s also a shift in mindset. Instead of racing to implement the latest AI or automation, companies are asking: What specific problem are we solving? What does success look like?

And, when they do move forward, they start small. This means mastering multiple use cases before rolling out across the organization.

Read: Trends & Insights Report: Overlooked Areas of Technology Implementations

When adding new tools, start small. Go step by step and have the entire strategy laid out before jumping in head first. Adoption will be accelerated by going a little at a time rather than trying to do everything at once.

Geoff Olsen, Supply Chain Practice Director at Catena Solutions

#2: Technology won’t work if you don’t invest in your people

Technology can’t drive transformation if your people aren’t ready. Without training and support, new systems become roadblocks, not growth engines.

Many companies are spending millions on platforms and tools but seeing minimal returns. Why? They skipped the most important investment: people.

To truly benefit from innovation, companies must:

• Prioritize training tailored to teams, roles, and locations
• Create continuous learning environments
• Build change management into tech adoption plans
• Track adoption rates and course correct as needed

Once a workforce is adequately upskilled and set up for success, they’ll be able to drive the expected value from the technology investment.

We’ve seen companies adopt new technologies only to move backward. When employees are confused or unprepared, they often revert to legacy tools like Excel and reject the new systems entirely, which is the exact opposite of what should happen. The solution isn’t more tech; it’s better training and a thoughtful approach to adoption.

Geoff Coltman, Senior Vice President at Catena Solutions

#3: Planning isn’t about forecasts, it’s about flexibility

A clear shift emerged at the Symposium: supply chain planning can’t live in a silo anymore. For too long, budgeting and operations ran on parallel tracks with finance focused on dollars, and supply chain departments on units.

Now, leaders are embracing Integrated Business Planning (IBP) to bring those threads together. IBP aligns supply chain forecasts with financial goals, creating a more complete view of the business.

Beyond integration, scenario planning is also a non-negotiable. Companies can’t predict every disruption, but they can be ready for a range of outcomes, as long as their planning models are flexible enough.

Read: What to Know: Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit Takeaways

You don’t need to know exactly what’s coming, but you do need to know how your business will respond when it does. Plans should be able to be bent without entirely breaking.

Geoff Olsen, Supply Chain Practice Director at Catena Solutions

We can help you prepare for a stronger future

The Gartner 2025 Supply Chain Symposium made it clear: the next few years will test organizations in new and complex ways. But the companies that will emerge stronger aren’t the ones chasing shiny new solutions, they’re the ones building resilient foundations, investing in their people, and planning with agility.

Want to talk more about how your organization can prepare for the future? Connect with our team at Catena Solutions today.