What does a true strategic supplier relationship look like in 2026? How does it differ from that traditional view, from your perspective?
Ashley Hetrick, BDO USA: I think it’ s really about our ability to solve problems nimbly and transparently. I think the last 18 months have shown us the value of having not hundreds of suppliers, but five or 10 who you can call at a moment’ s notice and say,‘ I’ m dealing with a 165 % tariff over here. Help me figure out how to redesign something to change the game, because I can’ t pay that.’
Those are the things that are becoming really important. We’ ve done a tonne of research on this, and companies who focus on fewer than 1 % of suppliers to really be strategic are the ones who get the greatest value, because it takes so much time and effort to build those relationships.
Tom Cummins, RS Group: Building on that, transparency is key. Providing those strategic suppliers with feedback on their performance is something we endeavoured to do years ago, but now it’ s being much more transparent, using real data to provide those insights so they can get better at what they do, and then, in turn, provide us with more insights.
Bhavik Pathak, Alstom: In my view, a strategic supplier right now in 2026 is one we work closely with. We need to closely work with suppliers, focusing on whether they are capable enough or not.
Then it comes to resilience, and it comes to market intelligence as well. All these different pieces need to be integrated into day-to-day working, which will flag what is coming, what is anticipated and help avoid disruptions.
Moving from this reactive paradigm to being proactive is something we hear a lot about on day one, and even predictive.
“The biggest limiter we see right now is pilots. Pilots kill everything. Choose one thing and go all in on it”
Ashley Hetrik Principal, Sourcing & Supply Chain Segment Leader BDO USA
88 June 2026