James Lisica

James Lisica is an internationally recognised Futurist, Keynote Speaker, and Supply Chain Thought Leader possessing over 25 years of operational, analytical, and commercial experience. He specialises in assisting organisations in developing strategies that reduce costs, enable digital transformation, improve operating efficiencies and deliver game-changing competitive advantages.

James began his journey in the supply chain industry in the 1990s. Honing his knowledge from the ground up in operations before taking on senior management roles with Agility, OOCL and Maersk. In 2012 he moved to Gartner, where he worked for over a decade. He was fundamental in building out their supply chain offering, taking the lead role in developing their foundational maturity models, now used by companies in every corner of the world. During his tenure, clients consistently ranked him as their top supply chain speaker, and his sessions at conferences are always highly sought after.

Most recently, he founded Supply Chain On-Demand. A future-focused think tank supporting supply chain innovation through collaborative research and pioneering thought leadership. Over his extensive career, James has studied and worked with the world’s leading organisations, serving as a trusted strategic adviser to hundreds of multinationals, government agencies, universities, and technology providers.

James talks about

James covers a wide range of topics about the future, innovation, technology, and corporate strategy. These topics (plus many more) can be covered individually for deeper insight or combined to deliver a holistic overview of emerging trends impacting the world’s supply chains.

CONQUERING THE NEW NORMAL

The pandemic has been a double-edged sword for global supply chains. Whilst elevating the function’s value, for many companies, it also unmasked glaring capability gaps. E-commerce readiness, lack of core systems, disparate data, fragmented networks, and limited automation all opened the door for more agile and technologically enabled competitors.

In this presentation, James covers how the global business landscape is evolving post-Covid and the role technology, data, and people play in conquering the “New Normal”.

THE AGE OF INTELLIGENT DATA

In an age of autonomous machines, AI, hyper-connected customers and digital ecosystems, data has become the currency of tomorrow. Organisations capable of extracting data from their end-to-end ecosystems and harnessing it to drive intelligent solutions will dominate the future. Evolving in ways their competitors simply will not.

In this presentation, James covers the capabilities organisations need to develop to harness intelligent data and how they leverage it to drive profitability, growth and competitive advantage.

SUSTAINING PROFITS BY PROFITING SUSTAINABLY

We live in a world facing unprecedented environmental and social challenges. It is no longer enough to produce the best products to survive. The way governments, consumers, and investors view value is rapidly shifting. Companies embracing ethical and sustainable innovation will soon wield a weapon that drives efficiencies, cements brand value and opens up profitable new markets.

In this presentation, James covers how organisations can shift from historical strategies focused on sustaining profits to ones that create new capabilities to profit from sustainability.

WINNING TOMORROWS CUSTOMERS TODAY

Consumers are becoming hyper-connected, influential, tech-savvy and empowered. There is a tectonic shift in how customers perceive value. This move towards digital experiences over physical products, convenience over brands, personalisation over scale and innovation over heritage requires a radical shift in strategic approach organisations need to prepare for today.

In this presentation, James covers the dynamic trends moulding the customers of the future and the things they will value while outlining the strategic milestones organisations should target if they want to win now.

MASTERING THE DIGITAL WORLD

Our world is now undeniably digital. New technologies have already made our lives unrecognisable from even 20 years ago. The pace at which disruptive technologies arrive is accelerating – changing the face of entire industries along the way. New business models are creating new value, and organisations must adapt quickly.

In this presentation, James covers the evolving digital landscape, the emerging technologies changing the face of supply chains, and the capabilities companies need to develop to master the digital age.

CREATING COMPELLING VALUE FOR STAKEHOLDERS

Building compelling business cases has long been a challenge for supply chain leaders. With a myriad of different stakeholders to win over (many with competing goals), crafting the right approach can be difficult. As we enter a new era where supply chain capabilities will be critical to the success of most organisations, we must get it right to win.

​In this presentation, James covers the evolving corporate landscape, the powerful trends redefining key stakeholders agendas and what they need to buy into supply chain value.

DISRUPTING THE DISRUPTORS

The digital revolution is radically changing the way corporate leaders think about their supply chains. With disruption rife across sectors, many are now realising the investment required to modernise their capabilities is insignificant compared to revenues lost to emerging digital competitors. Now on the back foot, they are struggling to stem the tide of disruption.

​In this presentation, James covers how organisations being disrupted can move to the front foot and return fire at their technologically-enabled rivals by leveraging their historical strengths and scale.

FROM AUTOMATION TO SYNCHRONISATION

With emerging developments in digital, we are entering a time where supply chains will be capable of not only reacting but executing in real-time. Synchronising supply and demand data in harmony to drive autonomous physical assets. The idea of self-regulating, autonomous, and intelligent supply chains is becoming a reality.

​In this presentation, James covers the emergence of synchronisation in the supply chain arena, the key technologies driving it, and how companies can develop the autonomous, intelligent supply chains of the future.

THE ART & SCIENCE OF MODERN STRATEGY

Due to many factors designing a modern supply chain strategy has become as much an art as it is a science. Modern supply chain leaders now need to account for cost and service, along with less tangible areas, like sustainability, technology, innovation, and talent, all while balancing competing corporate goals.

​In this presentation, James covers how leading organisations balance the art of developing the intangibles along with the science of achieving cost and performance targets when formulating their strategies.