Why CIOs prefer ketteQ

Supply Chain Planning is Now a Top Priority for Executives and Rapidly Rising on the CIO Radar

Supply chain has emerged as a strategic imperative for organizations striving to stay competitive and agile while unlocking significant financial and operational value. As fluctuating demand, global disruptions, and evolving customer expectations reshape business landscapes, forward-thinking CIOs are turning to ketteQ’s Adaptive Supply Chain Planning solutions, built on Salesforce. Together, these platforms are transforming how supply chains operate, delivering measurable value directly to supply chain teams.

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in global supply chains, elevating resilience and agility to top priorities. Organizations are shifting focus to supply chain planning and management software, often prioritizing it over traditional CRM investments. CIOs are recognizing that robust supply chain planning is vital for operational efficiency, resilience, and long-term competitiveness.

This white paper explores the transformational potential of ketteQ and Salesforce for supply chain planning, covering:

• Salesforce platform synergies: How IT and other business functions benefit from the synergy of data and workflow with Salesforce applications such as Agentforce, and ISV applications.

• Real-world financial impact: How ketteQ quickly delivers measurable ROI through cost reduction, improved forecasting, and increased revenue.

• Operational value: Leveraging Salesforce’s unified ecosystem to enable seamless integration, real-time insights, and proactive decision-making.

• Speed to value: Achieving measurable results in months, not years, through rapid deployment.

• Increased user engagement and adoption: Enhancing productivity and collaboration by utilizing Salesforce’s familiar interface.

• Unified IT environment: Simplifying IT landscapes by minimizing disparate systems and eliminating data silos.

Throughout this white paper, you’ll discover real-world examples of how organizations like NCR, Carrier, Bonide, The Greenery, and others are achieving transformative results with ketteQ and Salesforce—and why CIOs are increasingly prioritizing these technologies.

Why Supply Chain Planning is Garnering CIO Attention

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in global supply chains, elevating resilience and agility to top priorities. In response, organizations are shifting focus and budgets to supply chain planning, often prioritizing it over traditional investments like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. This strategic realignment is driven by the critical need to enhance operational efficiency, resilience, and adaptability in today’s volatile market environment.

Recent industry analyses underscore this trend. According to a 2024 article in Supply Chain Management Review, companies are committing substantial budgets to modernize their supply chain operations through advanced software solutions. These investments are enabling businesses to transition from traditional supply chain convergence to dynamic orchestration, fostering better end-to-end visibility and operational efficiency.

Supporting this shift, a 2024 PwC report reveals that 53% of operations leaders prioritize driving growth when making technology investments, with 51% focusing on cost optimization. Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are at the forefront of this transformation, prompting companies to allocate resources to supply chain solutions that enhance data analytics and decision-making.

Moreover, Gartner’s 2024 survey of over 400 global supply chain leaders highlights that AI and generative AI rank as the top two priorities for digital supply chain investments. This growing emphasis on advanced technologies underscores the importance of SCM solutions in building resilient and responsive supply chains.

Collectively, these insights highlight a strategic pivot toward supply chain planning software investments. As organizations seek to future-proof their operations, supply chain has become a boardroom priority, often surpassing CRM in technological focus. For CIOs, this shift presents an opportunity to lead innovation by adopting cutting-edge solutions like ketteQ and Salesforce, including Agentforce, to revolutionize supply chain planning.  

Real-World Financial Impact That Drives Revenue and Profits

CIOs are under pressure to deliver technology investments that generate financial returns. ketteQ’s PolymatiQ™-powered solutions deliver results through AI-driven simulations that optimize inventory, reduce stockouts, and enhance forecast accuracy. Implementing ketteQ typically takes just four months, offering rapid ROI and a low total cost of ownership (TCO).

Success Stories

• NCR Voyix: With ketteQ, NCR reduced inventory carrying costs and improved forecast accuracy across product lines by streamlining demand planning and enhancing workflow efficiency. With ketteQ on the Salesforce platform, the sales and supply chain teams gained real-time visibility, aligning inventory with revenue growth potential and improving collaboration and forecasting results

• Carrier: By adopting ketteQ’s solutions, Carrier enhanced its ability to anticipate demand fluctuations, leading to double digit growth rates with less inventory levels and costs. Having a single global system on the Salesforce platform enables consistent management, visibility and a standard process across 20 brands and regions around the world.

• Alliance Consumer Group (ACG): With ketteQ on Salesforce, ACG transformed how its sales team prioritized and executed sales strategies. By leveraging ketteQ’s supply planning capabilities to optimize delivery times and align with demand potential, ACG improved product availability insights. This shift enhanced customer relationships, streamlined operations, and elevated overall performance.

Operational Value Through Salesforce’s Unified Ecosystem

Built natively on Salesforce, ketteQ seamlessly integrates with existing enterprise applications, giving CIOs and supply chain teams a unified view of demand, supply, and capacity. This integration minimizes the risks of disruptions while enabling agile, data-driven decision-making.

Success Stories

• The Greenery: With ketteQ on Salesforce, The Greenery streamlined its logistics planning, achieving faster delivery times and reducing spoilage in its perishable goods supply chain. By leveraging predictive analytics, The Greenery now dynamically adjusts its distribution schedules based on weather patterns and customer demand, in combination with a complete technology transformation across the entire business, including ERP and CRM.

Speed to Value with Rapid Deployment

Legacy supply chain planning systems often take years to implement, delaying ROI. ketteQ, in contrast, deploys in as little as three months, allowing supply chain teams to accelerate time to value and see measurable results faster.

Success Stories

• Trimble: ketteQ’s solutions were implemented in just three months, enabling 100 users to boost forecast accuracy and sales productivity by 5%.

• Carrier: Carrier’s deployment improved operational efficiency within six months, allowing the company to respond more effectively to global disruptions.

Increased User Engagement and Adoption

With its Salesforce-native interface, ketteQ ensures quick adoption by leveraging tools that employees already know. This reduces training time and accelerates engagement, driving better results from the outset.

• Cosmetica Labs: Cosmetica leveraged ketteQ to manage uncertainty in product demand and material supply. This successful implementation improved production predictability and delivery schedules, aligning supply chain operations with OEM revenue growth strategies.

Aligning With CIO Priorities

CIOs are tasked with driving digital transformation, simplifying IT landscapes, and aligning technology with strategic goals. ketteQ and Salesforce deliver on these priorities:

• Digital Transformation: ketteQ enables a shift from reactive planning to proactive supply chain planning, data-driven decision-making, reinforcing broader digital initiatives.

• IT Simplification: By consolidating supply chain planning on Salesforce, CIOs reduce the complexity and costs associated with multiple disconnected systems.

• Stakeholder Alignment: The measurable outcomes of ketteQ’s solutions demonstrate clear value to executive leadership, aligning supply chain strategies with organizational goals.

• Positive ROI: With ketteQ delivering rapid ROI, CIOs can confidently justify software investments, demonstrating both immediate and sustained financial benefits. The ROI becomes even more compelling when integrated with Salesforce solutions like Agentforce, ensuring operational alignment across sales and supply chain teams.  

Minimizing Disparate Systems for a Unified IT Environment

Disconnected systems increase complexity, costs, and data silos. ketteQ and Salesforce offer a cohesive solution, replacing legacy systems with integrated tools that streamline operations.

Benefits for CIOs

• Faster, more accurate decision-making through eliminating data silos.

• Reduced IT overhead and simplified maintenance.

• Real-time insights aligned with strategic objectives.

• Rapid time to value, attractive ROI and low TCO

The Bottom Line: Empowering CIOs to Accomplish Strategic Objectives

CIOs play a pivotal role in shaping the future of supply chains. The combination of ketteQ and Salesforce empowers them to deliver financial and operational value, streamline IT systems, and drive innovation.

In a dynamic market, those who prioritize adaptive supply chain planning don’t just manage change—they lead it. By embracing ketteQ and Salesforce, including Agentforce, CIOs can revolutionize supply chain operations, unlocking resilience, agility, and competitive advantage.