Supply chain risk is on the rise worldwide. Building a resilient supply chain isn’t just about finding and fixing the weakest link. Instead, organizations must map their supplier ecosystem and work cross-functionally to implement robust safeguards and response mechanisms. This work is challenging but not impossible.
The first step is to get the lay of the land. In other words, your enterprise must allocate the proper cross-functional resources to identify its supply chain and vendors. Also, for each supplier, your enterprise should apply a risk rating depending on the supplier’s direct contribution to revenue-generating products, critical keep-the-lights-on (KTLO) operations, or strategic growth initiatives.
Ultimately, you need to map out your external partners to understand who owns the supplier relationship, determine what data is being collected or processed, and what contractual obligations or service level agreements must be upheld. You can’t control external parties, but you can (and should) hold them contractually accountable while ensuring your enterprise can continue operating if one of the links in your chain is compromised.
