Analyst Insight: S&OP is much more of a journey than a destination. After getting the supply/demand match process established, the question becomes "what is needed to move the process beyond the supply chain function and get ownership across the organization?" A good place to start is the front end of your business. - Bryan Ball, Vice President and Group Director, Supply Chain and Global Supply Management Practices, Aberdeen

Analyst Insight: Data analytics is playing a bigger role in supply chain analysis and consulting practices. According to a Deloitte study, "big data" and advanced analytics are being integrated into optimization tools, demand forecasting, integrated business planning, supplier collaboration and risk analytics at a rapid pace. - Traci Doenitz, Vice President of Information Systems, Spend Management Experts

Analyst Insight: Top leadership involvement in governing IT risk strategies and identifying the right practices to manage those risks is a requirement for any organization looking to have effective supply chain security. Today's IT landscape requires an accelerated level of knowledge sharing of IT risk practices and solutions, both with suppliers and within the enterprise. Leaders have to change how information is communicated and shared throughout the organization. - Andrea Stroud, research program manager, APQC

Analyst Insight: Sales and operations planning is a fundamental process that all retail, manufacturing and consumer products companies should have in place. Surprisingly, many companies do not have a process to formally balance product supply with product demand. Many articles and books have already been written on the technical steps which outline a successful S&OP program. These resources describe the nuances of product rationalization, demand forecasting, supply forecasting, S&OP "True Up" and executive review. - Brewster Smith, Project Manager, Tompkins International

Analyst Insight: Key to driving performance and achieving your business strategy is choosing KPIs that clearly align with that strategy. This usually involves identifying three or four areas where the company needs to excel, and then defining a "balanced scorecard" of metrics that shows progress toward the business goals, as well as the trade-offs necessary to achieve those goals. - Rodger Howell, Principal, PwC's Strategy&; Derrick Austring, Director, PwC's Strategy&

Delivering more than $10m in cost savings, spearheading a new global distribution model and driving a start-up's exponential growth are among the outstanding personal achievements of young professionals named winners in the ThomasNet and Institute for Supply Management 30 Under 30 Rising Supply Chain Stars Recognition Program.

Analyst Insight: Today's chief supply chain officer (CSCO) is beset by pressures on all fronts, struggling to understand and meet customer demands for cheaper, faster and efficient logistic processes from source to final delivery. Under omnichannel competitive pressures, web and mobile orders tendered by 2 p.m. must be fulfilled and shipped in the same. These growing B2C fulfill-to-deliver flows add shipping and labor costs and, if not optimized, impact margins and profitability. This constitutes a call to action! - Bob Heaney, Research Director and Principal Analyst, Aberdeen Group

Back in 2013, Flextronics, a $30bn manufacturer and services organization, talked about its slant towards supply chain risk through constant improvement in supply chain visibility, agility and control. Flextronics defined visibility as "the ability of all members of a chain to see from one end of the pipeline to another" and control as "the ability to respond to disturbances in a timely manner with effective actions." - Gregory L. Schlegel CPIM, CSP, Jonah, Founder, The Supply Chain Risk Management Consortium, Executive in Residence and Adjunct Professor, Supply Chain Risk Management, Lehigh University