Daniel Stidsen, senior director, solutions consulting with e2open, discusses the changing role, responsibilities and focus of supply chain planners.

With technology fostering business innovation, and disruptions such as tariffs roiling markets, there’s a pressing need to redefine the role of the supply chain planner. But Stidsen stresses that the topic should remain “human-centered.” Ultimately, he says, “it comes down to enabling planners to make better, faster and more holistic decisions.”

The notion of a “planner of the future” isn’t theoretical or distant in time. “It’s your future as a planner once the menial work disappears,” Stidsen says. Technology will relieve people of the need to spend time collecting raw data and “firefighting” when exceptions to the norm occur. Instead, they’ll be playing the role of “decision orchestrator,” taking a more strategic approach to planning that’s less reactive in nature. They be “shaping demand, understanding risks, and evaluating the tradeoffs they’ll be making in the business.”

That higher-level role will equip planners with the ability to address market volatility, in a world where demand patterns and consumer behavior are constantly shifting, and supply networks are more global, constrained and interdependent.

The typical day of a planner of the future will begin with decisions based on data and scenarios that were already created by automation the night before. No longer will planners “get bogged down in details and lose sight of the big picture.”

To begin the journey toward creating the planner of the future, organizations need to ensure that they have good inputs and data that serve as the basis for automated decision-making, Stidsen says. They should also focus on collaboration across the supply chain, building “cross-functional muscle” that allows for a holistic view and high-level management of events.