Every year, APQC conducts research with supply chain professionals to identify key priorities for the upcoming year. This year, attention has shifted toward sourcing and procurement and logistics, with supply chain planning falling slightly from its top ranking to third overall. This change reflects the industry's dynamic nature and the growing emphasis on optimizing these critical supply chain elements.
Below are two key areas from our priorities research, showcasing findings and offering insights into where leading supply chain organizations are focusing their investments for 2025.
1. Sourcing and Procurement
Supply chain professionals told us that their top priorities for sourcing and procurement include relationship building with strategic suppliers and digitizing and automating procurement.
The Evolving Landscape of Supplier Relationships
For this year, 50% of organizations are prioritizing supplier relationship management (SRM), up from 32% in 2024. The focus of SRM is shifting from compliance to collaboration, emphasizing innovation, agility, and risk management. Over half (52%) of professionals cite improving key supplier relationships as their top strategy for success.
Procurement is also focusing on automation and digitization to cut costs and boost efficiency. Nearly half (46%) are standardizing processes, while 35% are adopting new technologies. Many are also revisiting outdated workflows to better support digital transformation.
2. Logistics and Inventory Management
Logistics and inventory management is the second-highest focus area for 2025. Supply chain visibility has grown in importance with more organizations making it a priority as organizations seek transparency from raw materials to final delivery. This visibility helps enable the response to disruptions and optimize inventory, especially across complex, outsourced supply chains.
To support this, 62% of organizations are prioritizing inventory optimization, 48% are standardizing processes, and 46% aim to cut transportation costs—all of which are key to improving resilience, risk management, and supplier relationships.
Looking Ahead: Building Resilience in 2025
If recent events have taught us anything, it’s that uncertainty is here to stay. In response, supply chain leaders are stepping up, focusing on stronger sourcing, more innovative logistics, deeper supplier partnerships, and clearer visibility from end to end.
It’s great to see many organizations starting to standardize the processes behind their tech, but there’s still room to grow. To truly unlock the power of digitization and automation, process improvement and standardization should be at the forefront of every supply chain strategy for 2025.
Learn more in APQC’s 2025 Supply Chain Priorities and Challenges: White Paper.
Check out these other 2025 Supply Chain Priorities and Challenges resources: