Our friends at SupplyChain Management Review gave Sean Riley, Director of Supply Chain Innovation for Software AG, some space to talk about the five most important industry trends in 2012 and not surprisingly he hits on some solid points. 

Riley’s list:

1. Improved customer service over cost-cutting
2. Execution moves ahead of demand and supply planning 
3. Resurgence of contingency planning
4. End-to-end partner communications and collaborative execution 
5. Big Data is becoming mandatory

On point #5 (Big Data), Riley explains why systems able to analyze these massive data pools are so important and will likely continue to grow in 2013: “Leveraging these tools with supply chain visibility solutions will quickly become a ‘must have’ rather than a ‘nice to have’ as companies utilizing these tools set the bar for the new normal in supply chain performance,” he wrote.