Chuck Johnston

In a rapidly evolving global supply chain landscape, SAP’s David Vallejo believes the most exciting innovations are happening in planning—and that the industry is entering a fundamentally new era. At the Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit 2025 in Denver, Vallejo, who leads global product marketing for SAP’s supply chain portfolio, joined Scott Luton to discuss how planning is transforming, why data now sits at the center of competitiveness, and what SAP is doing to help organizations make faster, more confident decisions.   A Shift From ERP-Centric to Data-Centric Vallejo described his team’s role as one that constantly scans the market—identifying trends, customer expectations, and the problems companies will need to solve next. Those insights help shape new innovations across the SAP ecosystem. He noted that SAP has moved decisively from an ERP-centric worldview to a data-centric one. This shift is essential, he argued, because the biggest advantage in modern planning lies in having the right data—clean, connected, contextualized, and ready to drive decisions. As Vallejo put it, “It’s all about the data that I need to make better planning decisions.”   Planning Models Are No Longer Static Reflecting on how planning has evolved since he entered the field two decades…

“The term ‘influencer’ has become quite ubiquitous in the online space, especially in social media marketing. What was previously being done by celebrities is now taken over by regular people with large followings on social media platforms,” said Influencer Marketing Hub. The Denmark-based company says it “specializes in producing how-to guides, courses, and research reports in the social media and influencer marketing industry.” How far we’ve come – to the point where there’s an actual influencer marketing industry. Influencer Marketing Hub did say that industry experts and thought leaders “can also be considered influencers in their respective industries. These key opinion leaders have gained respect because of their qualifications, position, or experience in their topic of expertise.” It added that “the opinions of these influencers hold significant weight regardless of their social media follower count.” Supply Chain Media is Transforming to Fit the Needs of a Changing Industry Thankfully, it is the industry experts and thought leaders who are influencing supply chain media rather than TikTok “stars” and the Kardashians. There is now a wealth of supply chain-focused programming keeping industry professionals abreast of the latest trends and innovations. Three Supply Chain Influencers to Watch Vin Vashista, Sofia Rivas, and…