Supply chain strategies need frequent tweaking. Today’s business world is filled with complexity and risks, and attention, analysis, and agility are common ways to adapt to a changing environment.
But many executives tell us that they don’t even know where to start when it comes to adapting and refining their supply chain and risk management practices. They are confronted with too many pulls and tugs in different directions to understand the full value of what’s at stake.
As 2015 rounds the corner, Resilinc has a few ideas of where you can refocus. Here are three things you may not be doing, but could be doing right now to get more from your risk management strategy.
1. Integrate Your SCM and SCRM Strategies
See supply chain management and risk management as two sides of the same coin. Many companies put supply chain management and risk management into separate silos. Each bucket runs on different IT tools, adheres to different protocols, and follows different action items and what-if scenarios. However, as we all become increasingly aware of the growing risks associated with possible local and global supply chain disruptions, it’s getting harder to keep these silos apart. There is a strong interconnection now linking risk resiliency and supply chain optimization. And today, more than ever before, supply chain executives have a responsibility to help their companies avoid the threat of existing and possible risks while advocating for excellence in supply chain performance.
2. Move Beyond Excel Spreadsheets
Reclaim supply chain control, mitigate risk, and drive value. To be flexible and agile, companies have to shed their dinosaur skins and re-examine what’s needed to boost supply chain resiliency. For many years, supply chain professionals used spreadsheets–and fax machines–to oversee these functions. But can a spreadsheet give you the real-time visualization of what’s happening where with ALL your suppliers, not just your core first-tier suppliers, or which natural or man-made disaster will cripple your deliveries for weeks? Probably not. Now is as good a time as any to start evaluating what type of supply chain mapping and monitoring tools will produce better business results. New supply chain software solutions have built-in needed analytics, event monitoring, and always-on cloud connectivity to empower faster decision making and to keep the business running effectively and efficiently during times of crisis.
3. Leverage Risk Management to Create Competitive Advantages
As we noted, supply chain management and risk management are no longer polar opposites, and you can use your risk management approach to create a competitive supply chain and financial advantages. With these facets moving closely together, you can begin to reshape the competitive benefits being reaped from your supply chain and risk management strategies. A comprehensive and decentralized supply chain risk management solution opens the door for greater supply chain visibility, which in turn, could improve top and bottom-line financial results. Having a better handle on risks and supply chain events also provides insights into crisis situations, failure points, and planning alternatives, which, when combined, leads to quicker recovery time and gives you a jump over your competition.
Ready to make some strategy tweaks and adapt to whatever 2015 brings? Take a look at what supply chain risk management strategy could do for you.
