TAKEAWAYS
CYBERSECURITY FEARS UP, AI CONFIDENCE DOWN
Large businesses are increasingly anxious about supply chain disruption and far less confident that AI will deliver the resilience they need, according to new research from supply chain intelligence firm Zero100. The study, which surveyed chief operating officers (COOs) from firms with more than $1 billion in value, finds that cybersecurity is the dominant business continuity concern, while expectations for AI-driven transformation remain cautious and misaligned with what their CEOs are pitching to shareholders. The report finds that more than one-third of businesses rank a cyber incident as the biggest threat to continuity over the next year (35%) , ahead of challenges including geopolitical instability (20%), trade policy shocks (16%), and labor disruption (8%). Cyber incidents stand out not just as the top concern, but as the fastest- moving shock companies expect to face. Nearly two thirds (62%) say they can respond to a cyber incident within minutes or hours, compared with disruptions such as tariffs, which take the vast majority of businesses days or weeks to respond to (83%). However, opinion is sharply divided among COOs on whether AI will reduce or increase cyber risk (50% say better, vs. 43% say worse), even as a majority say it will help manage supply shortages (64%) and ease skill gaps (58%). The research also highlights
reshape just 11% to 25% of workflows, pointing to selective deployment rather than wholesale transformation. Progress on agentic AI is being slowed by organizational readiness rather than technical limitations. When asked specifically about deploying agentic AI at scale, COOs rated technology infrastructure as the most prepared area (6.2 out of 10) , ahead of leadership understanding (6.0), data foundations (5.8), process maturity (5.6), and workforce skills (5.5).
a growing credibility gap between what companies tell investors and what they believe they can deliver. Fewer than one in five COOs believe a majority of their company’s AI commitments to shareholders can be delivered on time (17%) . Expectations around agentic AI are particularly restrained. Just 7% believe agentic systems will fundamentally redesign a majority of workflows within the next two years. The most common view, held by two in five COOs (43%), is that agentic AI will
April 2026 • Inbound Logistics 17
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