When Szabolcs Balázs (Szabi) discusses supply chain value, he doesn’t begin with cost savings. He starts with something deeper: the very definition of value, which he says is shifting. “Many organizations still associate value with the traditional financial indicators such as fewer kilometers per ton, more efficient routes, shorter planning time or fewer hours lost in congestion. Those metrics still matter because they’re directly measurable. But they represent only one dimension.”

Over the last few years, he has seen a clear transition. Value is becoming multidimensional, integrating not only performance outcomes but also experience for both customers and employees. “We increasingly hear companies ask whether their people feel supported, whether the operation feels predictable instead of reactive, and whether customers consistently experience reliability. Ten years ago these questions rarely appeared in logistics discussions. Today, they are essential.”

In retail, three priorities keep surfacing. Not because they are buzzwords, but because they shape the quality and longevity of any partnership: Optimization Capabilities, Support and Services Quality and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Together, they form what Szabi sees as the structural foundation of lasting value. “Optimization delivers the measurable improvements. Strong support ensures that those improvements remain stable as the business evolves. And TCO prevents short-term gains from turning into long-term surprises. These three together determine how resilient value ultimately becomes.”

This moves the focus away from dashboards and technical features and toward the practical realities of running a supply chain: the decisions people make, the processes they follow and the routines that help improvements last.

Even with a clear definition, value only becomes real when an organization turns intent into measurable performance. Many companies can articulate what value should look like, but far fewer manage to deliver it consistently. “We’re good at identifying value. Everyone can build a business case. The hard part is turning KPI movement into actual financial impact and maintaining that impact over time.”

According to Szabi, this gap doesn’t exist because people lack expertise or motivation. It exists because the translation from improvement to financial value requires discipline that often fades once the initial project is finished.

His approach relies on a simple, structured sequence that keeps the discipline intact. It starts with a concrete project, then links that project to specific KPIs. Those KPIs are monitored closely as performance shifts, and only then is that movement translated into financial outcomes, the point at which potential value becomes measurable value.

But this translation depends on something many organizations still struggle with: real transparency in cost structures. “This is where partnership truly begins. To quantify value, we need real numbers, shared at the right time, not six months later. If something drifts, you want to spot it immediately and correct it right away, not when the year is already gone.”

Real-time data enables rapid course correction. Small deviations become visible early, long before they turn into structural losses. And this, according to Szabi, is exactly where strong organizations distinguish themselves. “Good companies stay focused during implementation. Great companies maintain that same focus long after go-live. They keep reviewing, keep translating, keep adjusting. That discipline is what protects value over time.”

Value erosion is one of the most underappreciated dynamics in supply chains. It is rarely dramatic. Instead, it unfolds gradually through small deviations, quiet workarounds and shifting business realities. “Once the initial project ends, the excitement naturally settles,” says Szabi. “New challenges emerge, the business continues to evolve, and teams begin to improvise to keep up. None of this is malicious; it’s simply what happens when operations are under pressure.”

This is why ORTEC performs yearly operational reviews for its clients, framed not as audits but as forward-looking evaluations. “The goal is not to check whether someone did something wrong. It’s to understand where value is weakening, where processes no longer match reality, and where teams need support. These reviews give clients a roadmap, not a report card.”

When needed, organizations ask ORTEC’s customer success teams to own parts of the process. “Some clients tell us: help keep these KPIs at the agreed level. And then it becomes a shared responsibility. This removes friction and keeps value stable, month after month.”

But the most powerful mechanism for preventing erosion is far simpler: continuous improvement. “You don’t need massive new implementations. It’s the small, steady adjustments that protect and grow value. Small tweaks compound fast when KPIs are monitored closely.”

As ORTEC renewed its packaging strategy (Essential, Premium and Enterprise), logistics maturity became central. This reflects a truth that many organizations underestimate, says Szabi: not all companies should start at the same level. “You can be a global enterprise with low logistics maturity, and then the essential package is the best fit. You can be a small operator with excellent processes and data discipline. Then the enterprise-level capabilities make sense. Size has nothing to do with readiness.”

To explain, Szabi uses a simple analogy: “It’s like running a marathon. You don’t begin with 42 kilometers; you start with shorter distances and build endurance over time. Logistics maturity works the same way.” This maturity-based model helps clients avoid the frustration of deploying high-end capabilities in environments not yet equipped to benefit from them, and it protects ROI.

Just as importantly, the packages combine software and consulting, which Szabi sees as essential. “We’ve always been both. We leave tools behind, but the knowledge we bring is just as important. Some components are services-only. It’s all about delivering value, not about selling features.”

Although Szabi now focuses primarily on retail, he avoids labels that rank industries from mature to immature. “There are great companies everywhere, and companies that are just starting their journey. What matters is where they invest: in processes, in data, in customer experience, in procurement. But everyone understands one thing: logistics is the backbone.  If you invest in it, you’re predictable, on time and delivering the right goods to the right people at the right moment.” That’s not just good marketing, it also ties maturity directly to customer experience and long-term value creation.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not simply an add-on; it is getting woven into the fabric of how value is measured and protected. “Our company was built on operations research,” says Szabi. “That already is a form of AI. Generative AI takes it further.”

In practice, this means AI assistants being embedded into the control tower and planning environment. “You don’t have to search for which trucks are late or where the exceptions are. You’ll simply ask the assistant. And you won’t track KPI movements by building complex dashboards; the assistant will surface them automatically. Monitoring becomes effortless.”

This will shorten the time between insight and corrective action dramatically. “Correcting an issue two weeks earlier can protect months of value. AI gives us that speed.” And this speed, he notes, will define the next competitive frontier in supply chains.

At the end of our talk, Szabi reminds us of the challenge he posed at the start of the conversation: “Make sure you know where the value in your supply chain is coming from and where it is leaking. Knowing that gives you a clear advantage.”

In a world where logistics defines brand experience, where continuous improvement compounds and where AI accelerates everything, the leaders who win will be those who treat value not as an outcome but as a discipline. Their edge won’t come from technology alone, but from how consistently they protect and grow the value it creates.