Fewer supply chain leaders believe they are ready for the future now (66%) than last year (73%), according to Blue Yonder’s second annual Supply Chain Compass report.

The report, from the world leader in end-to-end digital supply chain transformation, provides a comprehensive view of the key strategic priorities of nearly 700 supply chain professionals across North America and Europe.

The research found

• Only 48% of less optimistic leaders believe they are ready for the future, compared to 87% of optimistic leaders.
• Improving efficiency and productivity is the No. 1 strategic priority for 2026, selected by 35% of leaders, followed by faster, better decision-making, which moved up significantly this year to claim the No. 2 spot after only ranking seventh in last year’s report.
• While supply chain leaders felt more equipped to handle technological threats or operational issues, they are slowest to be able to effectively respond to geopolitical disruptions. Only 20% of leaders can develop and deploy a response within 24 hours. Another 38% take longer than a week to develop and deploy a response to geopolitical disruptions.

“Supply chain leaders are being asked to make more decisions, more frequently and with less time available,” said Duncan Angove, Blue Yonder CEO.

“In supply chain management, confidence is not simply a mindset. It is built on end-to-end visibility, unified data and practical AI that allows teams to make good decisions quickly and at scale. Blue Yonder enables companies to link together planning, sourcing and execution functions so they can reduce decision fatigue, rapidly respond to disruptions and manage the business with more control.”

An emerging confidence gap

The 2026 report also looked at the 46% of leaders who identified as highly optimistic about the future of their supply chains to find any differences in performance or outcomes over those who were not highly optimistic. It found confidence correlates strongly with expected financial performance.

The most optimistic leaders are doing things differently – taking an end-to-end approach, collaborating and breaking down silos, and investing in technology, particularly in AI and unified data platforms. As a result, they’re much less concerned about disruption or the pace of technological change.

The report also found that optimism impacts important business goals. The 46% of leaders who are highly optimistic have confidence in their approaches to building resilience, managing supply chains and establishing priorities. Notably, the less optimistic group is nearly twice as likely to state they need a new approach (43% vs 23%) than the highly optimistic group.

Unified data and predictive AI are separating leaders

Optimists are more likely to dedicate a technology investment budget, and those budgets are likely to be larger. Optimists are also more likely to have implemented unified data platforms, according to the report. Among all participants, unified data platforms were identified as the most utilized technology today, , already deployed by 51% of supply chain leaders. Machine learning/predictive AI is the most prevalent form of AI in use in supply chains today (45%). Generative AI is growing rapidly (24%, doubled from 2025), while agentic AI is in the early stages of adoption (8%).