Mastering SAP Empowers Women in Supply Chain at Latest Event

⇨ Mastering SAP EAM + Supply Chain & Procurement held its first ever Empowering Women in Supply Chain Breakfast session.

⇨ It featured keynote speaker Darcy MacClaren, global head of digital supply chain network and Annette Slunjski, chief executive officer, Mastering SAP.

⇨ The session aimed to promote diversity and networking within the supply chain industry.

Mastering SAP EAM + Supply Chain & Procurement held its first ever Empowering Women in Supply Chain Breakfast session. It featured keynote speaker Darcy MacClaren, global head of digital supply chain at SAP and Annette Slunjski, chief executive officer, Mastering SAP. The session aimed to promote diversity and networking within the supply chain industry.

MacClaren boasts over 30 years experience as a strategic global leader focused on improving business through technology transformation, especially in supply chain. She also founded Empowering Women in Supply Chain Network in 2020 which has since grown to over 800 members.

As the session began, MacClaren discussed the impact of COVID-19 and the pandemic on supply chain practitioners. She said that while this period of time was very dramatic, hard and stressful for supply chain practitioners, the pandemic elevated the industry’s importance, making it more visible.

“It got a lot of attention. The visibility of the importance of supply chain – you saw it rise in organisations. Heads of companies were interested in it. Heads of states were interested. All of a sudden, very talented, early stage employees wanted to get involved in the supply chain – so it became cool! It really helped the industry to gain visibility and the importance of what it does. That to me was the good part of what happened in COVID.”

MacClaren and Slunjski discussed digital transformation in supply chain, highlighting the need to begin the journey promptly and the importance of understanding trigger points within companies. MacClaren said that the majority of companies are recognising the need to digitise with each company’s journey differing from the other.

She said: “My advice to customers is you need to have the big picture of where you’re trying to go and ultimately what your view is. But the most important thing is to get started.

“And there are certain trigger points in companies as to where they start when they digitise, that will vary. Where most people actually start is with sales and operation planning – integrated business planning is a great way to begin because it’s very strategic and it looks at your whole organisation.”

As MacClaren concluded the session, she encouraged individuals to identify their superpowers and be true to themselves. 

She said: “What is your superpower? Now many times people don’t know that. I often can see it in somebody when they don’t even realise it themselves. It starts by figuring out what you’re really good at. Usually it’s what you really like so develop that and don’t worry so much about other things that you’re not good at. As a leader, you can complement what you’re good at with other people that have that skill set. It’s the team that matters.”