As supply chain leaders see growing adoption of generative AI in organizations, the topic of supply chain orchestration is trending within the industry. There’s a lot of excitement and optimism in the air, but if you’re feeling like the term sounds a bit fuzzy or wondering how it differs from what you’re already doing, you’re not alone.
The reality is that the ideas behind supply chain orchestration aren’t exactly new. The underlying goals—seamless coordination across partners, real-time visibility, automated decision-making—have been on the wish lists for years. What has changed is that emerging technologies are finally making these aspirations achievable at scale, which means that the conversation is shifting from whether achieving the vision is possible towards how organizations can get there and how long the journey is going to take.
What is supply chain orchestration?
At its core, supply chain orchestration is about transforming fragmented supply chain operations into a fully synchronized ecosystem. It’s the coordination of processes, data, and decisions across your extended supply network, from raw material suppliers to end customers, in a way that enables autonomous execution and real-time adjustments.
Supply chain orchestration vs. integration and visibility
According to industry definitions, orchestration goes beyond traditional coordination. It happens when systems and partners can communicate fluently, leading to fewer handoffs, lower latency, and faster alignment across the network. Rather than managing business relationships one at a time, orchestration creates an integrated ecosystem where all network participants work together seamlessly.
Think of it this way: supply chain integration provides the plumbing that connects different systems and partners, and supply chain visibility gives you the transparency to see what’s happening across your network. Supply chain orchestration is the conductor that uses that connectivity and visibility to autonomously coordinate actions and optimize outcomes across the entire value chain.
The role of autonomy and real-time decision-making
The vision is compelling. Imagine a supply chain where demand signals trigger automatic adjustments in production schedules, purchase orders, and logistics planning. Where potential disruptions are identified and mitigated before they impact operations. Where scenario planning isn’t a quarterly exercise but a continuous, AI-powered capability that keeps you ahead of market shifts.
This is the end-state that orchestration promises: end-to-end supply chain visibility and autonomous supply chain processes that adapt in real-time to changing conditions across your extended network.
Why supply chain orchestration is worth pursuing
If you’ve been working in supply chain for any length of time, you already know the answer to this question. The outcomes of supply chain orchestration, if attained, virtually eliminate the problems you’re dealing with every day.
Improved resilience and cost optimization
When your supply chain operates as an orchestrated ecosystem rather than a collection of disconnected functions, several things happen naturally. Resilience improves because you can detect disruptions earlier and respond faster with alternative sourcing, rerouting, or production adjustments. Agility increases because decisions aren’t bottlenecked by manual handoffs and delayed information. Costs come down through better asset utilization, reduced inventory buffers, and fewer expedited shipments to cover for planning gaps.
Better customer experience and competitive advantage
Customer experience also gets better. When you have full visibility and coordination across order fulfillment, product availability and logistics, you can provide accurate promises and meet them consistently. And perhaps most importantly, you gain competitive advantage by being able to execute at a level that competitors with fragmented operations simply can’t match.
Visions become measurable outcomes
We’re already seeing some of this come true. Companies that have made progress toward orchestration are seeing measurable results. But here’s the thing: these outcomes don’t come from buying an “orchestration platform” and flipping a switch. They come from building the right foundation and progressing systematically through increasing maturity across your operations.
Key barriers to achieving supply chain orchestration at scale
While the vision of orchestration is exciting and the enabling technology is advancing rapidly, most organizations face significant gaps between where they are and where they need to be.
Discussion around supply chain orchestration tends to focus on the flashy stuff: AI-powered forecasting, autonomous decision engines, digital twins, agentic automation. These advanced capabilities get the attention in pilot projects and proof-of-concepts. But the reality for most businesses is that they’re struggling with much more fundamental issues.
Data availability gaps
First, there’s the challenge of data availability. Orchestration depends on having access to structured data about supply chain processes. But many organizations still have substantial gaps in this basic requirement. Critical information may exist only in emails, spreadsheets, or people’s heads. When data isn’t captured digitally, it can’t flow through systems, feed analytics, or trigger automated actions. You can’t orchestrate processes you can’t see.
Data quality and reliability challenges
Second, even when data is available, there are often pervasive issues with data quality. Incomplete records, inconsistent formats, outdated information, and errors that propagate through systems all undermine the reliability of any orchestration effort. If you’re doing traditional analytics with bad data, you get bad insights. If you’re running AI algorithms on bad data, you can get catastrophic outcomes. The more advanced the capabilities you’re trying to deploy, the more critical data quality becomes.
Partner compliance and ecosystem complexity
Third, there’s the problem of process compliance across your supply chain partners. Orchestration requires that suppliers, logistics providers, and other partners deliver the right data in the right format at the right time. In practice, most organizations have substantial challenges in this area. Partners may not have the systems to provide what you need, may not understand the requirements, may not want to share some data, or simply may not prioritize compliance. When partners don’t follow agreed processes, your orchestration efforts break down at the edges of your direct control. Let alone further across the broader ecosystem.
Uneven maturity and organizational silos across supply chain functions
Finally, there’s the challenge of uneven maturity across functional areas within your own organization. Due to the traditionally siloed nature of supply chain operations, capabilities around data availability, data quality, process compliance, analytics, and automation can vary dramatically between functions.
For example, you might have highly mature capabilities in manufacturing operations with real-time visibility, predictive maintenance, and automated scheduling. But at the same time, you could be struggling in sourcing and procurement with manual processes and limited visibility to supplier performance. Or your customer fulfillment capabilities might be advanced while logistics operations are still playing catch-up with basic shipment tracking.
This uneven maturity creates a fundamental problem for orchestration, because orchestration is about cross-functional coordination. If one part of your supply chain is operating at a high level while another is lagging, your efforts to achieve orchestration at scale are hindered.
Create a roadmap to supply chain orchestration maturity
So how do you move the needle towards supply chain orchestration? The answer isn’t to try to leapfrog directly to the visionary end-state. It’s building capabilities systematically, starting with the foundation and progressing through increasing levels of maturity.
Assess current-state digital supply chain maturity
The first step is to take an honest inventory of where you are. This means assessing capabilities across your key supply chain functions—not just in terms of technology, but in terms of data availability, data quality, process standardization, partner compliance, and decision-making. Where are the biggest gaps? Where is variability in maturity creating disconnects in your end-to-end processes, and what are the critical interfaces for your business?
Build the digital foundation: Integration and data quality
Once you understand your current state, you can prioritize where to focus. The goal should be to build a digital foundation that makes practical supply chain orchestration possible in your organization. This typically means starting with data availability and quality around high-impact use cases. Before you can orchestrate processes, you need to digitize them. Before you can apply advanced analytics or AI, you need to ensure the data feeding these systems is reliable and timely.
For many organizations, this foundation-building involves modernizing integration capabilities. That means not just connecting systems within your four walls, but establishing robust B2B integration with suppliers and customers. It means implementing data validation and quality controls. It means working with partners to improve compliance with data and process requirements.
Layer analytics, automation, and autonomy
As the foundation strengthens, you can begin layering on more advanced capabilities. Better analytics that provide visibility across functions and partners. Exception management that flags issues before they cascade. Scenario planning capabilities that let you model alternatives. And ultimately, increasing levels of automation and autonomous decision-making where it makes sense.
Take an incremental, value-driven approach
The key is to be pragmatic and incremental. Focus on delivering real, measurable business value at each stage rather than chasing the complete vision all at once. Build capabilities in the areas that will have the biggest impact on your specific business challenges and opportunities.
And recognize that there’s no one-size-fits-all roadmap. The right path depends on your industry, your current maturity, your technology stack, and your strategic priorities. An industrial manufacturer will have different orchestration priorities than a distributor managing thousands of SKUs across a complex fulfillment network.
How OpenText can help enable supply chain orchestration
Building the digital foundation for supply chain orchestration is a significant undertaking. It requires capabilities across integration, data management, analytics, and process automation, all working together in a way that fits with your existing supply chain application stack.
This is where OpenText comes in. OpenText Business Network solutions help companies build the digital foundation they need based on where they are today and where they’re trying to go. The focus is on meeting you at your current maturity level and driving real, measurable business value as you progress.
That might mean starting with data availability—helping to digitize supply chain processes with external trading partners. It might mean addressing data quality and timeliness issues that are undermining decision-making and compliance. It might mean enabling advanced analytics capabilities that provide visibility across your end-to-end operations. Or it might mean supporting process automation that fits within your chosen technology ecosystem.
The point is that orchestration isn’t a single product or platform. It’s a journey that requires building the right capabilities in the right sequence for your specific situation. OpenText’s role is providing the foundational technologies and expertise to make that journey successful, pragmatic, and focused on outcomes rather than just technology deployment.
The path forward
Supply chain orchestration represents a significant evolution in how supply chains operate. The vision of autonomous, coordinated processes across extended networks is both compelling and increasingly achievable. But getting there requires more than just excitement about AI pilot projects.
It requires building the digital foundation that makes orchestration possible. It requires honest assessment of where you are, pragmatic planning for how to close the gaps, and systematic execution focused on delivering value at each stage.
The organizations that will succeed with orchestration probably aren’t the ones trying to skip steps or chase the flashiest technologies. They’re the ones doing the hard work of strengthening their fundamentals, building capabilities systematically, and staying focused on real business outcomes.
We may still be far from realizing the full vision of supply chain orchestration, but we’ve never been closer.
To learn more about how OpenText can support your journey toward supply chain orchestration, visit our supply chain solutions page or contact us to discuss your specific challenges and goals.
