<img src="https://secure.leadforensics.com/133892.png" alt="" style="display:none;">

Freak weather patterns, natural disasters, health emergencies and other geo-political problems can disrupt your sourcing operations and labour plans overnight. You can't predict the unpredictable but adding feeds from data sources that you may never have previously considered could keep you operating as normal by being better prepared to roll out mitigations and flex operations.

Here's how advanced analytics can help you better prepare for unpredictable events that might impact your supply chain.

Weather watching

Remember the recent flooding events that crippled communities in the UK during the early part of 2020? According to the Environment Agency, the frequency of this type of event is increasing due to climate change. Towns and villages will continue to be cut off from the road network, meaning branches of hundreds of businesses are likely to be affected if this happens again.

Socially responsible organisations will want to take the opportunity to keep supply chains moving in these times of crisis.

Simple data feeds are available online which can provide a regional view of risk and likely impact of unusual weather events, with providers instructions giving guidance on how to interpret and utilise the data.

Analyse these in combination with your customer and vendor data and you could gain a few days' early warning for your business to gear up, plan and execute a response. 

All news is good news

Both governmental and non-governmental organisations provide data feeds relating to other events which may be going on in the world that are likely to cause disruption to transport, population movement or other hazards. Risk assessments have been carried out on the data relating to earthquakes, droughts and even volcanic eruptions.

For example, the UK government provides a risk register of civil emergencies which can be a useful planning aid as much of the worst-case scenario thinking has been done upfront.

Tapping in to this type of data can be of real benefit, again when mashed up with data that likely sits in your transactional ERP or other line of business application databases.

What else could go wrong?

If it's not weather or natural disasters, it's oil prices, election results and sadly, even war. But feeds exist that allow this type of data to be gathered from around the globe, ready for analysis.

You can gain insights to:

  • Energy security
  • Commodities
  • Environmental
  • Military issues
  • Political events

Connecting to this type of data is probably easier than you think.

That data needs to be stored somewhere...

It's important to collect all that analytical data but it needs to go into a single repository so it can be the lifeblood of your business. If you can harness that data and understand what’s going on, your business will be in a better place to adapt to the changing conditions, like we’ve seen this year.

Know what's happening both out there and within your business, and you'll know what you need to do to improve things to rectify issues. 

It's an analytical approach, which joins the data dots, and can result in building a powerful tool that will help your business manage risk. Be prepared to act on the next unexpected event and you give your customers, partners and employees confidence that you are doing all you can to lessen any future impact.

Ready to transform your supply chain?

As we said earlier, you can't predict the unpredictable but the right technology can certainly help you mitigate the consequences of disruption. Ultimately, this can ensure your supply chain is as stable and efficient as possible. 

Technology, such as supply chain analytics and AI, isn't the only way you can improve your supply chain. 

We've pulled together a list of FREE data sources that you can take advantage of to bring together all the right points of information to build your supply chain risk modelling dashboard. Additionally, we have a complete checklist that covers the different tactics you can adopt to strengthen your supply chain.

From change management to rethinking your sourcing and distribution strategies, discover more tactics in our checklist below.

How to improve your supply chain

Topics

Discuss this post

Recommended posts

Manufacturers have long been reducing waste and improving product yield and quality by rolling out lean and Six Sigma methodologies. However, due to the complexity and quantity of production activities for most manufacturers, it’s often challenging to identify where they can optimise their processes. This is where implementing new technology can help. Here, we explore five benefits of introducing manufacturing-specific solutions within your operations and how it’ll improve your financial efficiency.
The retail industry – like many others – has experienced rapid transformation over the last few years with solutions such as the Internet of Things (IoT) taking centre stage. IoT has many uses and benefits for retail, including the ability to offer more personalised shopping experiences, increase customer loyalty and satisfaction, boost sales and improve inventory management. It’s estimated that IoT in retail will grow to $94.44 billion through 2025. This increase emphasises how IoT adoption won’t only improve the customer experience directly, but the need for businesses to change the way they do business to meet the demands of today’s connected customer. Using IoT in retail doesn’t only improve the customer experience. It also drives the customer experience by giving businesses the opportunity to gain a better insight into their customer preferences and the opportunity to create a more personalised and interactive ‘shopping’ experience.
A successful data breach can ruin a brand’s reputation in the competitive online world. Though some companies can salvage their reputation and remain relevant in their industry, many never recover from a data breach. You should never assume that your disaster recovery plan will be able to save your company if this type of disaster occurs. In fact, you should be tightening your cybersecurity measures across all online touchpoints and invest in preventive measures. This blog explores the anatomy of a data breach, what it can look like, and what you can do to keep your brand and your customers safe. Here’s what you need to know.
Many companies don’t see anything wrong with their data quality, management and governance processes. But upon examination, this often isn’t the case. It’s easy to forget how big of a role humans play; your people are an important cog in the stream of data. They contribute to these streams and if they’re inconsistent in their approach, it can lead to issues further down the line. I talk about this topic in more depth on an episode of Migration Minded, a podcast series created by the D365 Migration Community. Hosted by Tom Wisniewski, Microsoft’s Global Product Marketing Manager for Dynamics 365, he asks me about cloud migrations, the importance of change management, data management and more. Listen to the episode below (or watch it here).
Data has increasingly become an asset in its own right, capable of identifying and generating extensive business value in today’s digital-focused world. Data monetisation alone is a growing industry with an expected growth rate of 24% by 2027. There’s no doubt that it’s set to become more valuable this decade to those who fully embrace it.
right-arrow share search phone phone-filled menu filter envelope envelope-filled close checkmark caret-down arrow-up arrow-right arrow-left arrow-down