Purple people are professionals who know how to blend business acumen (blue) and technical (red) skills, according to Wayne Eckerson.

Today’s supply chain organizations are facing new and demanding digital, technical and business challenges. In order to succeed they need to hire and cultivate more purple people.

What trends are driving the need for more purple people?

• Migration to cloud technologies
• Disruptive technology – robotics, automation, etc
• Proliferation of big data and analytics

Purple people have the knowledge and insight to leverage new and emerging technologies and analytics data to solve business problems through traditional business skills like collaboration and communication.

How do you find purple people?

• Look to colleges and universities that offer degrees in supply chain management
• Develop talent from within

Read MHI’s article to learn the importance of developing managers with enough vision to understand how technological advances can provide their companies with a competitive advantage.