Graham Whittemore is Founder and CEO of Peakview Labs, a company using AI to make modern supply chain technology more accessible. Before founding Peakview, Graham spent more than 20 years in senior supply chain roles at Amazon, CVS, Wayfair, Staples and Clean Harbors.
In this conversation with JP Doggett, he reflects on why integration is the “central nervous system” of composability, how the role of ERP is shifting and what will separate companies that move ahead from those that remain stuck.
JP Doggett: You emphasised integration as the central nervous system of composability. Can you share an example where integration platforms made it possible to adopt new tools faster or with less risk?
Graham Whittemore: The most practical examples come from companies that want to try a new planning or visibility tool but don’t want to wait months for IT. With an integration layer in place, they can plug that tool in, test it and scale it if it works. That reduces risk because they don’t have to bet everything on a major system change.
I’ve seen teams use platforms like Chain.io to connect a new TMS module or a supplier risk tool and start getting value in weeks instead of quarters. The lesson is that integration lets companies move faster without being locked into long cycles.
JP Doggett: You suggested ERP is no longer the “sun” of the ecosystem. How are you seeing companies balance modernising core systems with layering in modular solutions around them?
Graham Whittemore: Most leaders I talk to are cautious about ripping out ERP, but they also know it can’t be the only system that matters anymore. The balance is to modernise ERP slowly while letting modular solutions handle the areas where speed and flexibility are critical. That way they’re not waiting years for an ERP upgrade to finish before they can innovate.
Over time, those modular solutions start to carry more of the weight, and ERP becomes more of a system of record than the center of gravity.
JP Doggett: You mentioned the rise of low-code, no-code and rapidly evolving SaaS tools. What are the biggest barriers to adoption in large supply chains and how might composability help?
Graham Whittemore: The biggest barrier is trust. Leaders worry about security, scale and whether a small tool will be around in five years. Composable architecture reduces that risk because it makes tools easier to plug in and swap out.
AI is also changing the equation. It is much easier to build software today than it was even a few years ago. That means companies can afford to experiment more and it gives them leverage with suppliers because they are less dependent on one vendor.
JP Doggett: Terminology seems to be an issue. Many supply chain leaders don’t use the word “composable.” How do you frame the concept so it resonates without sounding like jargon?
Graham Whittemore: I tend to avoid the word composable and talk instead about being modular or flexible. The idea is simple. If your systems are modular, you can try a new provider and, if it doesn’t work, you can switch them out. That’s a lot easier to understand than a buzzword. Operators care about speed and leverage, not labels. They want to know they can add new capabilities without being trapped by the old ones.
JP Doggett: Looking ahead, what will separate supply chains that succeed with composability from those that get stuck?
Graham Whittemore: The ones that succeed will embrace flexibility. They won’t see their software stack as fixed for the next decade. They’ll use integration to create optionality, they’ll build with AI to move faster and they’ll treat suppliers as interchangeable when they need to.
That creates leverage and it lets them leap ahead of competitors that are stuck waiting on monolithic systems. The ones that get stuck will still be treating ERP or a single vendor as the center of the universe while others are moving past them.
Graham has more than two decades of supply chain leadership experience at Amazon, CVS, Wayfair, Staples and Clean Harbors. He founded Peakview Labs to make world-class supply chain technology radically more accessible.
Peakview Labs offers two main solutions:
Peakview Insight — a subscription risk-intelligence platform that unifies monitoring across suppliers, customers, internal sites, and partner networks.
Peakview Forge — an AI-accelerated custom software builder that replaces outdated tools or creates new ones 10× faster and ~50% lower cost than traditional vendors.
As Graham puts it: “Supply chains should be a source of competitive advantage, not complexity.”