Nearly two-thirds (63%) of supply chains are in a fragile state, and only about 8% are fully resilient, according to new analysis by Gartner. After years of global disruption, market instability, and shifting customer expectations, volatility is the new norm.
To respond, supply chains must ensure that resilience is part of their baseline.
The Gartner research is a good reminder that robust supply chains, while once a true competitive advantage, are now what logistics professionals should expect. That means the most successful brands will go further, designing for readiness. They want to predict and pre-empt the next disturbance.
VEYER’s stance is that supply chain leaders are evolving beyond simply recovering from disruption. They’re working to anticipate change before it happens, making readiness a core design principle of their supply chain and broader operations.
Why Resilience Alone Still Falls Short
Resilience is typically framed as a reactive stance. It is discussed as a means of recovering from disruption or delay. An event occurs, disrupting the supply chain at the local or macro level, and companies then move into action.
Resilience allows a supply chain to take a punch and then get back up.
Readiness, on the other hand, involves adapting to an event in real-time with a preemptive strategy. It’s about blocking the punch.
Common Readiness Barriers in Today’s Supply Chains
Many organizations have spent the past decade enhancing risk management, diversifying their vendor base, and developing emergency response playbooks. Unfortunately, many supply chains remain rigid because they rely on siloed data —either internally siloed or kept separate from all partners and vendors. This can lead to limited visibility and long lead times between decision and action.
According to Gartner’s research, most supply chains still struggle with limited cross-functional visibility, creating a high barrier to agility and readiness.
That brittleness becomes clear during peak seasons, carrier constraints, or unpredictable shifts in demand. For example, when a major carrier experiences a capacity crunch or a big nor’easter rolls through and shuts down regional hubs, brands without flexible routing or backup inventory options can see customer orders stall for days. That can lead to stockouts, missed SLAs, and rising customer service costs.
And some customers will cancel those orders due to delays. So you’ll also incur the costs of processing and managing returns, checking goods, and then re-stocking them on warehouse shelves to hopefully sell to someone else. Though, that often means the inventory isn’t available again until after peak season.
Brands that plan only for recovery still lose time, revenue, and customer trust when the unexpected happens.
VEYER can help you build readiness by design. Combining distributed infrastructure, data visibility, and a human touch, we help partners plan so they can move faster when conditions change.
VEYER’s Readiness Framework
VEYER has a readiness framework which rests on three principles: network design, data visibility, and expertise. Together, these make fulfillment systems more adaptable and less vulnerable to disruption. Treating them as interconnected pillars can help companies like yours stay operational and responsive as conditions change.
1. Network Design for Adaptability
Distributed networks create built-in resilience, freeing supply chain leaders to focus on ways to enhance readiness. This occurs with your own facilities or when you work with VEYER’s fulfillment centers strategically positioned across the United States to reduce dependence on any single node.
You can move inventory or fill orders from additional locations whenever you need it most. Network design enables load balancing, regional optimization, and near-instant rerouting, making it easier to plan for weather impacts, carrier delays, and regional slowdowns.
While proximity to demand shortens response time, having flexible inventory and capacity allows your company to have backup in place, ready to go.
2. Data Visibility and Decision Speed
Visibility is fundamental to transforming reaction into readiness. When order, transportation, and fulfillment data are unified, operators can spot risks and respond before service levels drop. Access to this data shortens decision cycles and enables resource shifts within hours instead of days, turning a static network into a dynamic, learning system.
VEYER’s next-generation tech stack brings this visibility to life. With real-time order and inventory data, customizable packaging workflows, and an API-first architecture that connects marketplaces, ERPs, and sales channels, we make it easier for brands to take data-driven action. Our unified dashboard and automated exception management tools let operators see, and solve, issues across all fulfillment sites in seconds.
In the burgeoning era of AI logistics, real-time data will be what turns fulfillment networks into adaptive ecosystems.
3. Expertise Meets Automation
We know that automation scales efficiency, but people enable resilience.
While automated routing and analytics tools help identify potential bottlenecks, it’s leadership who translates that insight into decisive action. That’s why partners like VEYER can engage directly with brands like yours to model contingency plans, manage regional load balancing, and guide communication during disruptions.
This balance of automation and experienced judgment gives our network the ability to flex and be ready when others are still reacting.
Build a Foundation of Readiness
Gartner’s research consistently emphasizes that fragile supply chains lose value when exposed to uncertainty, while resilient designs can withstand or even benefit from it. That aligns with our philosophy: don’t just design to bounce back, design to stay ahead.
Supply chains shouldn’t just survivein uncertainty; they should excel in it.
How can companies strengthen supply chain readiness in 2025? By partnering with logistics providers who combine data intelligence, distributed infrastructure, and expertise into a single, adaptable network.
Discover how VEYER Logistics can help you build a supply chain that bounces back stronger.
Key Takeaways
- Resilience helps brands recover; readiness helps them anticipate and adapt.
- Distributed networks and real-time visibility make VEYER’s fulfillment model inherently resilient.
- VEYER Logistics combines people, process, and data to help keep supply chains operational even under pressure.
