With higher tariffs, changing trade policies, and rising geopolitical tensions, your organization has to be strategic about how to mitigate some of these challenges to ensure the viability of your supply chains this year. 

Specifically, the increase in U.S. tariffs in 2025 will lead to significant supply chain disruptions. Because tariffs raise import costs, your company may be scrambling to adjust your logistics and sourcing strategies. You might see delays in product availability as importers reevaluate their relationships with suppliers and navigate new compliance requirements, which may add layers of complexity to the supply chain.

The Key to Survival in 2025: Agility

Maybe your company is racing to stockpile inventory or switching to a single-region strategy, whether nearshoring or working with a non-tariffed country. But these are not viable approaches for the long-term. 

Tariffs, while significant, will not be the only disruption in the coming year. You must look to the key to resilience that will help you navigate through future disruptions as well: agility. 

Here are four ways to increase agility in your supply chains: 

1. Optimize supply chain processes with AI

   According to Fictiv’s 2024 State of Manufacturing Report, AI is increasingly being used in a broader range of applications, especially in manufacturing and supply chain management. 51% of manufacturing leaders are using AI for supply chain management, and 47% are using AI in product design. And we’ve really only scratched the surface of AI’s potential in optimizing supply chains. 
   
   Here are a few ways you can use AI to benefit your company:

   • Track inventory levels, market trends, and customer demand to forecast and manage inventory more effectively. This means you can reduce the inventory you procure if demand isn’t present or increase inventory if demand is spiking, helping you save money and maximize profits. 

   • Analyze supplier performance, pricing, and market conditions to understand the risk of working with a particular supplier. You can also leverage AI to evaluate supplier performance and provide insights for improvement. 

   • Monitor and track performance of equipment and technology for predictive maintenance. AI can alert you when potential outages or failures might occur, minimizing downtime and increasing equipment longevity. 

   • Streamline workflows and automate routine tasks such as reviewing contracts and processing orders to enable a more agile and responsive supply chain. 

     According to a recent study, companies have already seen impressive results with AI. 68% of supply chain organizations have integrated AI to enhance traceability and visibility within their operations. This technology boost has led to a 22% increase in operational efficiency.

     Adopting AI requires strategic and thoughtful execution, however. Learn the 3 keys to success with AI here.

2. Implement a multi-region strategy 

   Even though certain countries may be tariff-free, relying on a single region or supplier for key components and materials can still expose you to significant risk. That region may be subject to natural disasters, geopolitical tensions, or financial instability. 

   Instead, you need to diversify supplier networks across regions and industries to decrease dependency on any single supplier or market for when disruption occurs. A multi-sourcing strategy also creates healthy competition among suppliers, giving you more bargaining power to ask suppliers for discounts or product improvements. 

   Although multi-sourcing may reduce supplier risk and increase flexibility across the supply chain, it can complicate supplier relations, requiring greater resources to manage a growing supplier network. 

3. Leverage low-code tools 

   Start automating tasks using low-code tools to empower non-technical users to improve processes without depending on IT. Currently, more than 2/3 of enterprises surveyed by KPMG have already adopted low-code into their supply chain technology. 

   For instance, you can enable non-technical users to create new pages for new products, build workflows to automate supply chain processes, and easily collect information from suppliers through forms, all without needing to code. And with your IT team saving more time, they can respond swiftly to urgent needs or changes, paving the way for a more agile and adaptable future. 

   Would your organization benefit from a low-code platform? Find out in this blog. 

4. Collaborate with suppliers for greater benefits

   Strong partnerships with suppliers is key to building a resilient supply chain. By collaborating with suppliers, your business can:

   • Negotiate long-term contracts that will protect from price increases or any rising costs. 

   • Find other cost-saving opportunities, whether that’s modifying product specifications or streamlining logistics to reduce transportation and storage costs. 

   • Plan for future innovation, product development, and supply chain strategy together, bringing in supplier expertise and best practices to the table. 

Suppliers can do more than just provide the materials or parts that you need—they can be critical to a thriving business and a resilient supply chain.

The Role of Robust Supplier Management

Although the strategies discussed above will help your business navigate future disruptions, ultimately what will help increase supply chain agility is the ability to gain a complete picture of your supply chain. A complete picture enables you to make proactive decisions to protect your business. With greater supply chain transparency comes a greater ability to anticipate and defend against disruptions. 

Many organizations are still struggling to gain complete transparency into their supply chains. According to the GEODIS Supply Chain Worldwide Survey, only 6% of the 623 companies surveyed claimed to have achieved full supply chain visibility.

One way to not only gain supply chain transparency but also manage multi-region complexity and streamline communication and collaboration is by implementing a supplier portal.

A robust supplier portal can act as a single interface that brings together supplier onboarding, procurement, sourcing, settlement, and communication. A supplier portal can unify data from your ERP, PIM, CRM, EDI, AR/AP systems, and inventory management tools to act as a window into back-end systems, providing greater visibility into your supply chain. 

Because data between these systems is connected, your organization can: 

• Reduce data inefficiencies, minimizing the chances for errors like duplicate payments due to duplicate master records. 

• Surface product and purchasing information through a single gateway. 

• Increase visibility into inventory to maximize inventory allocation and minimize overselling and stockouts. 

• Automate and digitize supplier processes like registration, onboarding, and order management.

A supplier portal not only gives visibility into what’s happening on the back-end but also gives suppliers an opportunity to communicate, resolve issues, and innovate with the team. Instead of siloed approaches like email or phone, you can consolidate all communication and collaboration within a supplier portal. Now teams can work more seamlessly with suppliers, responding to evolving business needs together with agility.

Building a Resilient Supply Chain

In a recent analysis, Gartner noted the potential impact of tariffs and suggested strategies for turning challenges into opportunities. “Enterprises should recognize tariff volatility as a multiyear, dynamic event,” said Suzie Petrusic, senior director analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice. “Chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) who recognize this reality should continually evaluate opportunities to invest in strengthening their operations and attract outside investments from geopolitical actors and ecosystem partners.” 

So although tariffs may be a challenge for the coming year, turn this challenge into an opportunity to find ways of increasing the agility of business operations so you can respond to future turbulence and change. 

Start tackling these opportunities by learning how to build a supplier portal to increase back-end visibility and improve supplier communications here.