Managing and minimising supplier risk, even when times are hard
In today’s complex world, supplier risk management is just as critical to your organisation’s financial health and competitive performance as your efforts to produce cost savings. Supplier risk management must be built into your organisation’s
ongoing supplier interaction in order to be effective.
Working in Finance or Procurement, you undoubtedly spend much of your time looking for ways to reduce operational costs, produce cost savings, and generally “do more with less.”
But the other big part of your responsibility is to manage risk. The negative impact of an event, such as the current situation, on your organisation’s financial position is huge, potentially even devastating. And risk simply cannot be ignored.
When it comes to the supply side of your operations, risk management clearly involves managing the risk of serious problems that could be caused directly by the actions or inactions of your suppliers.
The only way to
minimise supplier risk is to maintain a high level of visibility of the information that acts as key indicators of each supplier’s ability to perform, such as:
- Business continuity plans.
- Quality and safety assurance processes.
- Certifications and regulatory compliances.
- Insurance and disaster recovery plans.
- Actual performance history and internal satisfaction levels.
- The list goes on…