Gartner Urges Chief Supply Chain Officers to Prepare for the Shift to Autonomous Business
Outcome-driven autonomy is shaping a new era of business, and Gartner is urging chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) to prepare for the shift away from siloed automation models or risk being left behind.
Gartner detailed how autonomous business capabilities are reshaping supply chain strategy and execution, along with their long-term implications, during the recent Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo.
“As autonomous business becomes the dominant model for how organizations run, CSCOs must rethink not just how work gets done, but who is making the decisions. They must decide if it’s people, machines or both,” said Alan O’Keeffe, VP analyst in Gartner’s supply chain practice, according to statements shared from the event. “This is a shift from optimizing tasks to orchestrating outcomes, with clear guardrails that balance machine autonomy with human leadership.”
Gartner defines autonomous business as the use of self-improving, adaptable technology to support decision-making and create new value by increasing the autonomy of both people and machines. Within supply chains, this can be a significant change, as it must be coordinated across complex networks of warehouses, factories and transportation fleets.
In a recent Gartner survey of global CEOs and senior business leaders conducted from March to November 2025, eight in 10 executives expect autonomous business to be the leading form of business by 2030. For supply chain organizations, there is a competitive advantage in making this shift, as customers are already comparing businesses based on whether they have these capabilities.
Gartner shared three recommendations for what CSCOs should prioritize: shifting the focus of task automation from speed to outcome-based decision flows, strengthening intelligence and evolving the workforce to collaborate more effectively with AI-based systems.
“This is not a ‘set it and forget it’ technology story,” O’Keeffe said. “The winners will be the supply chains that design for autonomy in the real world, where physical operations, risk tolerance and accountability matter as much as algorithms.”
