It’s all about the customer: 71 percent of business operators said their top business objective is increased loyalty and customer satisfaction, according to a recent Manufacturing Insights survey of 800 companies. But their number-one supply chain objective is to reduce manufacturing and logistics costs. “That’s a big disconnect,” says Kim Knickle, program director and lead analyst at Manufacturing Insights.

If businesses don’t align their strategic objectives with supply chain priorities, IT investments in supply chain will not be effective, Knickle says. One of the reasons for the misalignment of goals could be that CIOs are focused on more day-to-day issues, she says. IT may need to be more proactive about showing the business ways that its supply chain can improve customer strategy goals.

“CIOs aren’t always invited to conversations,” Knickle says. “IT needs to talk to the business to ensure IT investments align with corporate objectives.” The survey showed that business operators want more collaborative processes within the organization, says Knickle.

Historically, strategy development within each business function was a siloed process, says Simon Ellis, research program director at Manufacturing Insights: “But as technology is increasingly outsourced, collaboration becomes more important.”

This is especially true when business constituents don’t understand that the IT budget is already limited. Ellis says most IT budgets haven’t increased during the past five years. “IT is under greater pressure to stretch their dollars,” he says, noting that the supply chain can’t be a center of innovation without the proper budget.

“The business must be willing to see IT from more than a service and cost-saving angle,” Knickle says.