Supplier visibility increasingly becomes a top strategic business priority while supply chain monitoring and verification remains a major challenge for businesses in the UK and globally. To gain insights into supplier risks and pinpoint problem areas to help small and large businesses effectively manage these risks, Alcumus has launched a ‘Risk Barometer’.
In the first four weeks since launch, 250 UK companies from a wide spectrum of sectors including Construction, Manufacturing, Property/Facilities Management, Retail/Hospitality, Public sector, Finance/Business Services/IT, Transport, Logistics/Distribution and Natural Resources/Utilities have submitted their data.
Findings from the inaugural Barometer reveal:
- 70% of respondents have been been negatively impacted by a supplier in the last 12 months; a third more than four times
- 71% rate their supply chain visibility as poor to average, only 5% say it is excellent
- Yet, only 48% of UK businesses conduct an annual assessment of their suppliers
Helen Jones, Chief Operating Office – Enterprise at Alcumus, says:”
“We believe that asking the right questions is the first step to businesses successfully managing supplier risk. Our Risk Barometer confirms what we’re hearing from clients, day in, day out, which is that very few organisations are able to ask and verify key supplier information. Even if organisations manage to gather the required supplier data, manual processes remain common practice and without a centralised system firms are compounding the problem of lack of transparency and the inability to report on data. This leaves organisations in a place where they are unable to address issues or demonstrate progress against their strategic initiatives.”
“While much of the supply chain disruption experienced by companies over the past two years, first through Covid and now the Russia/Ukraine conflict, are beyond their control, supplier verification and process optimisation are on-going issues they have influence over. And they should exercise this influence – to avoid reputational damage and financial loss.
“Our Risk Barometer helps businesses determine their level of supplier risks and pinpoint problem areas in just a few minutes. We are dedicated to minimising organisational risks to help them protect against issues such as financial loss and reputational damage.” The Alcumus ‘Risk Barometer’ can be completed here: https://riskbarometer.alcumus.com.
