Supply chain management has existed in many different forms for hundreds of years. While many past approaches to the concept were crude, limited and inefficient as compared to modern practices, businesses have long understood the need to deliver products to market with speed and accuracy – even if they couldn’t fully realize those goals.

The modern concepts of supply chain management – specifically defined as a discrete series of processes just a few decades ago – have changed drastically as computers, Internet connectivity and, more recently, mobile devices have entered the picture. Technology has allowed for the removal of more data silos and barriers between different areas of a business, and will continue to do so in the future.

With the continuing evolution of supply chain management tools and practices in mind, the question for many is: What major changes are quickly approaching or already affecting the industry?

Here’s a look at trends that will have a major impact on the continuing evolution of the practice.

Corporate sustainability and reporting of externalities will grow in importance
Corporate sustainability, the triple bottom line and other associated concepts are already entrenched in the minds of executives, investors and consumers. Industry publication Supply Chain 24/7 posits that activities such as disclosure of environmental and societal impacts, as well as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, will become crucial for business success. Reporting on positive impacts like job creation as well as more in-depth facts, such as the modes of transportation used to carry goods, will become more important as stakeholders will begin to seek more detailed information about the processes used by businesses.

A cross-industry survey of executives at businesses where supply chains are a major piece of operations, conducted by Supply Chain 24/7, found that leaders in various consumer products industries and pharmaceuticals view sustainability and reporting as high priorities.The relevance is viewed as a medium priority in the industrial manufacturing realm, an indication of the different pressures felt in that sector.

Supply chain management will continue to diversify and grow as a discipline in the coming years.

Software will become more agile and easy to use
In a discussion of the biggest supply chain trends for 2014, Forbes pointed to the increasing use of supply chain management software and the improvement of these programs. Major concepts addressed were agility in terms of discussion-sharing and problem resolution, as well as improving search functionality. Real-time analytics that inform decisions that have to be made in the moment were also mentioned. Forbes specifically highlighted improvements made to Oracle’s supply chain software that significantly boosted the searchability and location of data within a system, no matter the particular location where it’s stored or its type.

This trend is undeniably good news for businesses that want to strengthen their control over and visibility into supply chain management. As developers focus on useful features and implement new functionalities, companies ultimately benefit.

Better management of disruptive events is needed
The basic need of businesses to ensure the fast, effective and targeted production and delivery of goods is sometimes damaged by events that even the most efficient supply chain management processes can’t predict. Weather patterns, the impacts of climate changes and many other types of potential disruption are difficult to predict with any certainty until shortly before they make their influence known.

Supply Management pointed to the need for advanced, evolving risk management planning and strategy as a way for companies to mitigate the negative effects of disruption when they’re unable to directly control the cause of the problem. The involvement of executive leaders of organizations in this process, in terms of both recognizing the problem and planning for it, was presented as an area of focus.

Product lifecycles will have an increasing level of influence
Supply Chain 24/7 made the point that, in general, product lifecycles or “clockspeeds,” the useful or usable life of a good, are decreasing in many industries. However, many companies have products that will last for medium and long periods of time among their offerings as well. A major change will have to occur in terms of supply chain management to adapt to the many different product lifecycles. In other words, businesses will have to develop supply chains oriented around products with similar lifecycles, instead of using the same chain to distribute different types of goods that measure their usable life in both months and years. A matrix approach to mapping different clockspeeds and matching both product and functional segments and then joining them to different supply chain processes will likely be necessary for many businesses.

The true and full impact of these trends on the future of supply chain management remains to be seen, but many of these considerations are already being made by professionals to improve performance and create more efficient operations.