Why CIOs Are Rethinking Supply Chain Planning

This is the first in a three-part series exploring how today’s CIOs are stepping into a new role—driving enterprise-wide transformation by reimagining supply chain planning as a source of strategic and financial advantage.

CIOs have never faced more pressure to deliver measurable business value. It’s no longer enough to manage systems and ensure uptime. Today’s CIOs are expected to lead strategic transformation, driving both operational performance and financial outcomes across the enterprise. One of the most powerful levers they have? Supply chain planning.

Traditional planning systems are rigid, siloed, slow to adapt, and falling short of corporate objectives. These legacy solutions can take years to implement, cost millions to maintain, and leave organizations vulnerable to disruption. In a global economy reshaped by tariffs, trade wars, and ongoing instability, the cost of poor planning is too high.are falling short. These legacy solutions can take years to implement, cost millions to maintain, and leave organizations vulnerable to disruption. In a global economy reshaped by tariffs, trade wars, and ongoing instability, the cost of poor planning is too high.

That’s why a growing number of forward-thinking CIOs are reexamining their approach to supply chain planning. They’re asking bigger questions:

• What if planning could be both adaptive and predictive?

• What if we could bridge the gap between sales and operations?

• What if supply chain decisions were based on thousands of real-time scenarios, not just one outdated forecast?

These questions are driving a new era of innovation—an era fueled by agentic AI and pushing CIOs toward solutions which create enterprise-wide value.and pushing CIOs toward solutions that create enterprise-wide value.

Legacy Systems Can’t Keep Up. The problem isn’t just outdated technology; it’s the outdated assumptions behind it. Most legacy systems are built on static models. They assume the future will look like the past and require extensive manual intervention to adjust to change.

This approach worked in a more stable world. But in today’s dynamic, global, and digital supply chains, it’s a recipe for risk. Demand shifts faster than teams can update spreadsheets. Inventory strategies optimized for yesterday’s market become liabilities overnight, and planners are stuck firefighting instead of steering.

CIOs Are Shifting the Conversation To delivering better outcomes, CIOs are flipping the script. They’re no longer asking, “How do I get this system to work?” but instead, “How do I architect a smarter, faster, more adaptive planning function?”

The answers are increasingly pointing to cloud-native, AI-powered solutions that integrate planning directly into the fabric of the business. And for many, the most strategic place to start is with platforms they already trust—like Salesforce.

Why Salesforce? Why Now? For companies already using Salesforce to manage sales, service, and customer relationships, it makes strategic and economic sense to extend that trusted data model into planning. CIOs know the platform is scalable, secure, and already familiar to users across the enterprise. ketteQ builds on that foundation with a powerful demand, inventory, and supply planning engine—the PolymatiQ™ solver—powered by AI and designed to deliver the adaptability, intelligence, and speed of today’s supply chain demand.

A Better Approach to Planning ketteQ’s PolymatiQ™ doesn’t rely on a single forecast or fixed set of assumptions. It runs thousands of scenarios, dynamically tuning models to reflect real-world change. Instead of waiting for problems to happen, it empowers planners to make proactive decisions. Instead of working around system limitations, teams work with a platform designed to evolve with them.

For CIOs, this means:

• Faster time to value

• Lower total cost of ownership

• More agility across business functions

• A strategic edge in navigating uncertainty

The Bottom Line

Supply chain planning is no longer just an operations problem. It’s a business performance opportunity. And the CIO is uniquely positioned to lead the charge.

By rethinking what planning can be—and by embracing platforms that integrate, adapt, and scale—CIOs can unlock value that reaches every corner of the organization.

In the next post in this series, we’ll dive into exactly how ketteQ + Salesforce empowers CIOs to deliver faster, smarter planning decisions with a lower total cost of ownership. + Salesforce empower CIOs to deliver faster, smarter planning decisions with a lower total cost of ownership.

To learn more now, download our information-packed white paper ketteQ + Salesforce Empower CIOs to Revolutionize Supply Chain Planning.