Logistics Leaders are Increasingly Embracing Strategic Goals as 90% Now Report to C-Suite

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With an increasing number of logistics leaders reporting directly to the C-suite, priorities are being elevated to impact customer experience, increase digitalization, and automate physical tasks, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc.

Attendees at Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo in Barcelona learned that the broadening in ambition of logistics leaders’ long-term objectives is driven in part by heightened attention and reporting levels to the C-suite, to whom 90% of these leaders report to, including 30% answering to the CEO.

“Logistics leaders are raising the ambition of their objectives, looking beyond solely cost-optimization and aligning with leadership’s goals for sustainable business growth,” said David Gonzalez, VP Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice. “The time has come to reframe the future of logistics around customer value, increasing productivity, championing growth and developing the right talent.”

Gartner’s survey of 306 logistics leaders completed in December 2024 focused on their top priorities through the year 2030. Improving customer experience through more service offerings was the top-ranked initiative, closely followed by increasing digitalization of processes and offerings, and automation of physical execution (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Improving Customer Experience is Top Priority for Logistics

Source: Gartner (May 2025)

To follow through on these ambitions, logistics leaders must overcome challenges including:

Internal Challenges from Entrenched Practices: Often stemming from institutional practices that prioritize cost optimization over innovation and value creation, many leaders face internal metrics reinforcing conventional behaviors, lack of infrastructure investment, and insufficient autonomy to implement change.

Lack of External Investment: Many must contend with inadequate public investment in infrastructure, which hampers efforts to adopt automation and digitalization. Collaboration with local authorities and industry partners will be crucial to expand logistics capacity and overcome these hurdles.

Gonzalez highlighted the importance of emphasizing innovation alongside cost optimization in creating balanced logistics scorecards. Additionally, collaboration with local authorities, real estate developers and third-party logistics (3PL) service providers on infrastructure investment opportunities is important to expand logistics capacity.

Logistics Objectives for 2030

Fifty percent of high-performing logistics leaders ranked automating and mechanizing physical handling tasks as being the most important future value-creating activity for logistics functions. For all survey respondents, the byproduct of taking a longer-term and more strategic approach to logistics value and investments is to increase logistics productivity, which is a more sustainable and robust approach to cost optimization.

Logistics leaders’ focus on digitalization and automation will also require an enhanced strategy towards talent acquisition and upskilling. Nearly 70% of leaders agree that future logistics functions will be populated by data analysts and automation engineers. In the next five years, logistics talent must adopt different skill sets benefiting from and complemented by machines.

“It is indisputable that the digitalization of logistics will fundamentally change the skill sets needed,” added Gonzalez. “To increasingly provide strategic value to the business, logistics leaders must invest in new skills and competencies around data analysis and automation engineering. Additionally, new roles and job profiles will need to be developed to attract employees with the requisite diagnostic and data visualization skills.”

Gartner clients can read more in Catch and Convert These Big Ideas Framing the Future of Logistics. Nonclients can learn more in Supply Chain Logistics Management.

About Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo

Preparing for volatility, risk and disruption while ensuring future readiness requires CSCOs to be equipped with a measured and strategic response. At Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo, Gartner experts are sharing the latest research, guidance and actionable insights to shift your supply chain, navigate disruption and seize opportunity.

About the Gartner Supply Chain Practice

The Gartner Supply Chain Practice provides actionable, objective insights for supply chain leaders and their teams, so they can respond to disruption and innovate for the future through leading-edge supply chain management practices. Additional information is available at https://www.gartner.com/en/supply-chain. Follow news and updates from the Gartner Supply Chain Practice on LinkedIn and X using #GartnerSC. Visit the Gartner Supply Chain Newsroom for more information and insights.ization’s mission-critical priorities.