How do we stay alive during this time and come out even stronger on the other side?

This is the time to empower your team to get ahead of this crisis and help your business reshape its roles, its processes, and its purpose. At the heart of this fundamental shift are people, as they now face extraordinary circumstances and are instrumental in adapting to change. We should lean into our relationships with our suppliers to try to better understand them and help them prevent the risk of solvency. When seeking alternate sources of supply, it’s important to not make rash decisions and take the time to carefully evaluate potential suppliers.

Due to the rapid rate of change in terms of news developments, global impacts, and legislations across borders, it’s important finding reliable information and guidance. Â鶹ԭ´´ recently hosted a series of virtual forums called , with industry-specific episodes to guide businesses during this evolving situation and help utilise the latest technologies for adjusting, adapting, and thriving.

I was one of the presenters for our exploring supply chain risks and modern slavery – two vital focuses in our changing world and evolving situation.

With Australian Parliament passing the , a national Modern Slavery Reporting Requirement (Reporting Requirement) was entered into force 1st January 2019. Annual reporting now require statements regarding modern slavery and technology plays a key role in mitigating its associated risks. As businesses are starting to work with new suppliers to secure alternate sources of supply, it’s never been more important to take a closer look at the suppliers you’re working with today and establish a rigid onboarding and risk mitigation process for suppliers you plan to work with in the future.

Every business faces four primary risk categories: Operational risk, Financial risk, Legal risks, and Environmental/Social risks – which is the category where modern slavery falls. It’s important to not just do enough to be compliant with the legislation but do your part to help make the world a better place by not doing business with suppliers potentially engaged in modern slavery.

From Supply Chains to Supply Networks
The impact of COVID-19 has resonated across industries and supply chains, particularly as governments tighten restrictions of the movement of people and goods. Beyond the shifting availability of human resources, supply chains are under great strain to meet changing consumer demands.

Businesses that invested in digital platforms and intelligent technologies have been better equipped for this crisis, utilising demand management systems to navigate through this transitional period. The ability to quickly collate, access, and action useful data can help businesses highlight vulnerabilities in real time while presenting alternative options.

Organisations everywhere should be using this opportunity to lean into supplier relationships, reach out to your supply chain and build deeper connections. This is about transforming your supply chain into a supply network, diversifying your supplier network to mitigate risk and create a wider view of your market, industry, and partnerships.

Technology facilitates collaboration and transparency across supply networks as cloud-based solutions offer streamlined processes and communication platforms. Transparency not only helps establish trust within supplier relationships, but helps companies remain legally compliant and flexible to change.

Platforms for Change and Compliance
I’ve seen Â鶹ԭ´´ Ariba offer businesses a self-service model to daily processes and information, simplifying the way organisations can access and utilise critical data. Â鶹ԭ´´ Ariba gives businesses a platform for monitoring supply networks in terms of risks, impacts, and changes – facilitating better collaboration and communication across industries.

In light of COVID-19, we’ve created a free promotion for businesses worldwide to a matchmaking platform for buyers and suppliers. This is the time to break silos across supply chains and industries to create a better connected and more transparent marketplace. This is the opportunity for many suppliers to create alternate revenue streams and business models using Â鶹ԭ´´ Ariba Discovery, and an even bigger opportunity for buyers to find them quickly in this demanding time of need.

As we’re seeing disruptions to supply chains, its critical businesses don’t lose sight of the deeper impacts in terms of risk and non-ethical practices to fulfil the changing demands of this crisis.

The most important element for mitigating risk is ensuring stringent processes for onboarding staff, contractors, and suppliers. This early diligence can prevent any surprises down the line and ensure all stakeholders of your business are aligned with your vision and purpose.

can assist business in sourcing the right people and partners. Cloud-based platforms collate data sets regarding different risk categories and determines a risk score based on the nature and severity of that data. Â鶹ԭ´´ Ariba can distinguish by risk type – checking risk factors automatically and early to help organisations go beyond simply asking for supplier assurances.

To learn more about how industry experts are mitigating risks and complying with modern slavery legislation, we encourage you to register for the second in the series of .

The post Adapting to Change While Mitigating Risk to Supply Chains appeared first on Â鶹ԭ´´ Australia & New Zealand News Center.

The organisations that are the most successful are and react to changing consumer preferences, habits, and feelings regardless of what the organisation believes is the best route or the most profitable.

The organisations with their fingers on the pulse of the customers are the ones who survive and stand the test of time.

Look back to Amazon.com from the late nineties. They originally started as an online bookstore and listened to the needs of their customers, evolving into the online superstore we know today. Blockbuster, on the other hand, failed to understand evolving consumer trends and habits, causing them to suffer a slow and painful demise at the hands of Netflix, even before Netflix had started streaming video.

They quickly discovered that customers were looking for something faster, simpler, and more personalised, so Netflix used this information to pivot and create a new business model.

According to , 69% of buyers are willing to pay more for a personalised experience. Businesses have caught on to this and have started to change the ways they operate to make everything as efficient and easy as possible for the end consumers.

How did Amazon make the shift from selling books, to delivering thousands of categories directly to the consumer, with just two-day shipping? How did Netflix make the shift from mailing DVDs, to providing a full-service streaming platform?

It was through making stronger relationships with their suppliers and doing business more efficiently. With slow & error-prone paper-based transactions, these companies would have not been able to provide the . Often, suppliers are stuck dealing with phone calls, paper transactions, and e-mail black holes that can slow down business and have a bullwhip effect back to the end consumer.

When consumers can’t get what they need quickly and easily, they can turn to competitors. According to , consumers would not care if 74% of the brands they use vanished. It’s never been quicker and easier for a consumer to switch brands.

How can organisations be expected to keep innovating to provide a seamless, personalised, and convenient customer experience?

Look no further than suppliers. Suppliers are often overlooked as key business partners who can . Suppliers are the backbone to any organisation on the planet. Without the supplier to provide raw materials, deliveries, hosting, or services, companies would not be able to provide a seamless customer experience.

Unfortunately, suppliers are still dealing with paper in the year 2020. Global paper use has increased by 400% in the last 40 years. 1 in 3 invoices contains an error. These two factors combined are causing the cost of doing business to steadily increase as the supplier waits for the errors to be corrected before finally receiving their payment. Suppliers deserve a better experience. Their main focus is to increase sales, fulfil orders efficiently, and get paid predictably.

That’s where the comes in. It extends an organisation’s ERP system beyond their four walls and gives . It gives suppliers a single place to maintain their profile, insurances, and bank details, and provides suppliers a single place to respond to leads and negotiate contracts with their customers.

It gives suppliers a choice of how they want to transact with their customers, whether it’s through their mobile device, online portal, or system-to-system integration where sales orders land directly into their order fulfilment system.

These transactions are monitored for any errors, and the errors are highlighted to the suppliers so they can fix them immediately, so they are not sending invoices with errors. This reduces the amount of time it takes to do business for both the supplier and the buyer, and helps the supplier get paid when they expect to.

The year is 2020. It’s about time we completely eliminate paper from the business world, one transaction at a time. Let’s innovate to give suppliers the experience they deserve so they can collaborate to deliver new business models and seamlessly

The post Focus on Suppliers to Forge New Business Models During Times of Need appeared first on Â鶹ԭ´´ Australia & New Zealand News Center.