The digital supply chain is term that is currently on everyone’s lips, but only a minority of German companies have already transformed their logistics accordingly: just 8% have successfully completed a transformation process of this sort, and only a further fifth of the logistics decision-makers surveyed has made a start on this kind of transformation. These are the r esults of a telephone survey of 200 logistics decision-makers in German companies.

The demand is more than evident: just under half of the managers surveyed stated that in future they would also be choosing their logistics service provider according to their expertise in the field of digitization. Even more (55%) are expecting the service providers they appoint to offer simulation solutions and optimization of transport planning to reduce emissions that are harmful to the environment: environmental factors were therefore frequently mentioned as related to digital expertise.

The managers regard self-learning systems and mobile applications as the most important technological developments, while in larger companies with over 250 employees, blockchains were also considered very important. The managers are hoping above all that this technology will provide a transparent delivery chain which should offer protection against counterfeit products before goods are exchanged.