In an increasingly intricate landscape of suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors, today’s supply chains have become a complex network of moving parts which keep production running.
While a sophisticated supply system can help production and commerce flow smoothly, it can also be tricky to keep track of suppliers, monitor operations, and mitigate risks within your own supply chain.
This blog will help you to unravel and understand the nature of modern supply chains and illustrate how Authenticate simplifies and safeguards your own supply chain, by streamlining operations and helping you avoid potential risks.
What are Risks in the Supply Chain?
In the last few years alone, the way we view manufacturing and consumption has shifted greatly – from being thrust into restrictive mid and post-pandemic life, to the advent of international concern over global warming and the environment – supply chain operation on a grand scale has been rocked in many ways.
Now, major concerns for industry leaders, multinational organisations, and authoritative boards alike include the potential risks businesses face in bringing their products or services to the market, and the steps which must be taken to avoid them.
So, what are some examples of challenges within the supply chain?
Reputational Risk
Reputational risks can emerge when an organisation fails to uphold its supply chain ethics, faces delayed orders, or presents poor quality service or products.
With ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) compliance becoming a critical element for industry leaders, investors, and consumers alike, it’s no surprise that most companies recognise the significance of their ethical commitments within the supply chain.
Prioritising a transparent supply chain, ethical sources, supplier KPIs, quality, and open communication can help get you back on track with reputation and ESG targets – and Authenticate’s ESGnius management software platform is designed to make internal and supplier performance tracking simple.
Regulatory Risk
If your supply chain or business practices fail to comply with legislation and standards regarding general operation, sourcing or outsourcing, offshore activity, safety, etc., it may raise concern over regulatory risks.
Staying informed and up to date on regulatory reforms and standards within your area/industry is the best way to mitigate risks and prevent long-term damage to profits, reputation, and operations.
Conducting regular supply chain audits, compliance reviews, and risk assessments can help you stay on top of your supplier network – ensuring they meet crucial targets and fulfil all legal requirements.
Resilience Risk
Resilience risks arise when production is halted due to supplier failure, meaning that orders or services cannot be fulfilled as usual.
To mitigate this, your supplier network should be diverse and expansive, to reduce dependency on any single supplier. Having a contingency plan which identifies alternative sources and strategies will also help your business stay flexible and avoid the risk of production coming to a standstill in the event of serious supplier delay or failure.
Encouraging open communication with suppliers, distributors, and manufacturers allows all parties to collaborate in identifying potential snags in the supply chain, so they can be prevented before a real issue ever materialises.
Our location report can help your business to identify direct and indirect suppliers. If there are incidences such as disease outbreaks or geopolitical events, our reports allow you to search for your suppliers location by their distance from an epicentre.
Navigating Supply Chain Risk Management
Today’s supply chains are multifaceted; they span continents and encompass people, industries, and languages on a global scale. Consequently, it can be extremely challenging for business owners to monitor and manage which suppliers, distributors, and manufacturers get involved in different stages of their production loops.
This means that if your business has specific targets related to human rights, climate change, or environmental conservation (for example) within the supply chain, keeping track of these targets will be an overwhelming task with so many factors at play.
Luckily, there is a solution: enter Authenticate, a supply chain management platform which allows businesses to bring transparency and sustainability to the supplier network by streamlining workflows and providing risk-management tools.
Supply chain management is a process which can help you navigate and evaluate your supplier journey, allowing you to identify potential weak spots and prevent possible risks. With Authenticate, you gain access to a selection of supply chain solutions, including digital audits, advanced analytics, supplier performance management, SEDEX and much more.
These tools form one concise workflow, giving you actionable insight and clarity to make informed decisions about your supply chain to avoid risk and promote sustainability, every step of the way.
To learn more about how Authenticate technology helps safeguard your supply chain, explore our platforms and services.
