One of the hottest topics in the supply chain management industry is risk management as noted at the Gartner conference this year. Part of the discussion during the conference focused on the development of new technology for mapping and monitoring supply-chain risk. With the world’s economy affected by disruptive events including terrorism and meteorological events, risk is a big factor. Technology is now emerging that can deliver significant business value to innovators.
Analytics
One big contributing effort is in the area of providing analytics for risk mitigation. This software can start at the granular level of procurement to calculate issues all the way along the supply chain. With early risk detection, manufacturers can create alternative solutions more readily.
Custom Solutions
Security is an issue for global shipping and can factor into risk management. Additional issues are environmental laws, regulatory compliance, diversity issues and health and safety. Customized solutions can treat each situation individually with the ability to flex around problems. Several small businesses are emerging to fill this niche of purpose-built methodologies. A recent paper co-authored by Gartner analyst Ray Barger, Jr. titled “2016 Strategic Roadmap for Supply Solution Deployment” cites several supply risk examples with category-specific solutions.
Workforce Issues
Personnel is another area of risk concern due to the need for staffing and solid background checks. In the supply-chain category, especially globally, it is easy for breakdowns in this process to occur resulting in inappropriate hires. Technologies such as IQNavigator are hoping to close the gap with global apps for talent management software.
Obstacles
Because of diverse requirements in dealing with various risk factors in supply-chain management, a general supply-risk dashboard technology is not something that will be available for some time. For the next few years, managers will have to find solutions by working with several more specific technologies to get the results they need. However, the technology emerging right now will definitely reduce the current level of risk.