Executive Reality Check (Part 2)

Three more questions for executives to consider. These are perhaps even more important. How much risk can you and your company handle?

Executives, here is your second reality check for 2017.

REQUEST: Consider these business risk issues

1. Suppliers have risks: financial, operational, and compliance – and each one can impact your supply chain performance and your revenues.
   • How do you mitigate risks for your business critical categories?
   • What is your plan for business and economic uncertainty, and how do you forecast for it?
2. Disasters can and do happen. Surveys indicate operational problems (power loss, communications loss, etc.) are the largest causes of disasters at 45%, followed by natural disasters at 35%, and human error at 19%. Recovering from any disaster can be risky, time-consuming, and expensive. Many companies never recover.
   • Is your business continuance / disaster recovery (BC/DR) plan up-to-date with your current business model?
   • Does part of  your business software infrastructure operate in the Cloud? Why not?
3. Supply chain collaboration and product visibility is crucial to reduce business risks in a timely fashion.
   • Do you utilize supplier or customer portals to receive / place orders?
   • Can you automatically track product movements or product shipments, and make adjustments?

DECISION: If you found any of your answers lacking to these questions, then what are you going to do about it?

ACTION: Prepping and rehearsing BC/DR strategies annually requires a total corporate commitment and a formal action plan. Reaching out to supply chain experts for help is a risk mitigation strategy that works. Address your BC/DR shortfalls and hope that you don’t have to use them very often!

Many executives have sleepless nights worrying about how to mitigate risks for their companies. And, if your products have the potential to face recalls that may have caused injury or death, your risk issues multiply. Plan accordingly!