Have you met the concept of the perfect order in supply chain management? It is a notion that applies well to disaster recovery, and an example of how cross pollination can work between different areas of an enterprise. Read more
Supply chain optimisation is the reason why companies like Walmart dominate their sectors. Supply chain continuity is essentially business continuity in this case. That should mean risk assessment and mitigation to make sure everything keeps working. However, supply chain risk seems to be a slippery item that is difficult to pin down. Businesses often state their concern about the chances of interruption to their supply chain, yet have no clear solution for measuring or managing that risk. Could your insurer help out? Read more
Supply chains are where the smart money is when it comes to building competitive advantage. Building a ‘machine’ that blends production, logistics, sales and service for the best in customer satisfaction and enterprise profitability is the way to get ahead. Great supply chains are hard to copy, unlike pricing strategies or even technology. However, great supply chains are sometimes hard to build as well. For reasons of cost reduction or access to resources and know-how that they don’t have in-house, many companies outsource part or even all of their supply chain activity. The risk however often stays within the companies – and it’s been getting bigger and bigger. Read more
No disaster recovery plan is perfect. However, there is a big difference between knowing about and managing limitations; and being caught wrong-footed by a problem you never thought about. Some items seem to consistently make the ‘hit parade’ of omissions and absences in DR plans. Before spilling the beans, here’s a hint to help you guess what they might be. They each involve a lack of vision beyond the limited point of view of IT servers and applications in a data centre. Read more
The supply chain is one of the few possibilities left for a company to be truly competitive. Technology can be copied rapidly and Internet has leveled the playing field for advertising and marketing. However, getting customer satisfaction and loyalty right through supply chain optimisation still offers considerable possibility for differentiation. That opportunity also comes with significant business continuity challenges. Supply chains are complex assemblies of many moving parts that require skill and good judgment to extract the best performance. In many cases, it also only takes one part to break for the whole chain to stop. How can better business continuity and resilience be achieved? Read more
This idea is often presented the other way around: how to perform disaster recovery on a supply chain. However, there’s mutual benefit to be derived between the two concepts. Supply chain methods can help companies, organisations and communities get back on their feet after a disaster too. The same principles that make inventory handling and logistics can also contribute to a more efficient response – sometimes a lifesaving response. Indeed, the basic definition of supply chain fits well with emergency response: it begins when a demand (need) is created and its performance is defined by the efficiency and effectiveness with which that need is met. Read more