Is Your Supply Chain Resilient?

 
The major upheavals of the last couple of decades, such as the global recession and the COVID-19 pandemic, have demonstrated that firms will suffer severe setbacks if their supply chains are not resilient. An entire supply chain becomes vulnerable if one component is exposed to risk, just like a house of cards will topple if one section is out of balance.

 
Supply chain resilience refers to an organization's ability to use its resources to handle unanticipated supply network disruptions. In other words, it is the ability to respond to and recover from challenges without disrupting operations or deadlines.

 
These statistics from last year demonstrate why supply chain resilience is crucial:

 

• The financial impact of supply chain disruptions was substantial. Over 16% of organizations reported severe revenue loss.¹
• Over 10% of organizations stated that supply chain disruptions had affected their brand’s reputation.¹
• Nearly 10% of organizations lost their regular customers following a bad experience due to a broken supply chain.¹

 
Despite this, over 70% of organizations don’t have a business operations contingency plan to deal with disruptions lasting more than a few weeks.²
 

4 Core Elements of a Resilient Supply Chain

 
A resilient supply chain incorporates the following four essential elements, regardless of industry or geographic location:

 

1. End-to-End Monitoring

A resilient supply chain requires continual monitoring. However, today's organizations frequently lack awareness of what's going on with their vendors and consumers at different levels. Vendors that are critical to a company's success should always be closely monitored.

 
It's critical to identify issues before they become severe impediments, such as ransomware penetrating your network or a computer part being delayed in shipment. Knowing about issues as soon as they arise allows you to seek out other options and update customers quickly.

 

2. Sourcing Diversification

Even though eliminating single points of failure is a critical part of risk mitigation, many companies still rely on a single vendor, region or country in their supply chain portfolios. It's ideal to employ a mix of near-shore and offshore vendors for each component so that if one region/vendor goes down, suppliers from other locations can step in.

 

3. Incident Tolerance

Security, backup and compliance postures must be strengthened to ensure operations continue even if one of the vendors/regions gets affected. The goal must be to build incident tolerance or the ability to ensure that the supply chain keeps running, regardless of the nature or scope of an incident.

 

4. Agility

The most successful organizations operate with an agile mindset. They work hard to keep up with market trends as well as the latest technology developments. They use the best tools and strategies in the industry to gain insights, foresee opportunities and risks, and take aggressive action ahead of their competitors.

 

The Key Enablers of Supply Chain Resilience

 
People, processes and technology are the three key enablers of a robust supply chain resilience strategy.

 

People

When it comes to the supply chain, a crisis management team comprised of the most skilled and resilient people must be established.

 
By relying on organizational insights, the team must draft a response playbook and acquire appropriate technologies. Additionally, to prepare the entire organization for disruptions, the team must develop and run mock drills.

 

Processes

Employees perform at their best when efficient and reliable processes support them. As a result, digitizing as many processes as possible is highly recommended. This allows organizations to access large amounts of data and information in real time, which they can utilize to make decisions regarding crucial competencies required to navigate a crisis.

 

Technology

Technology can fine-tune the processes within an organization accurately. Using proper technologies to construct a centralized incident management system is the best method to detect issues and maintain accountability within the supply chain.

 
Although making your supply chain resilient is a vital undertaking, it takes time, effort and expertise. Working with a specialist like us to manage resilience matters while you focus on running your organization is ideal. Contact us to schedule a no-obligation consultation.

 


                                                                                                                             
 
Sources:

1. Supply Chain Resilience Report 2021
2. Accenture - A pragmatic approach to maintaining supply chain resilience in times of uncertainty

Is Your Supply Chain Resilient?

 
The major upheavals of the last couple of decades, such as the global recession and the COVID-19 pandemic, have demonstrated that firms will suffer severe setbacks if their supply chains are not resilient. An entire supply chain becomes vulnerable if one component is exposed to risk, just like a house of cards will topple if one section is out of balance.

 
Supply chain resilience refers to an organization's ability to use its resources to handle unanticipated supply network disruptions. In other words, it is the ability to respond to and recover from challenges without disrupting operations or deadlines.

 
These statistics from last year demonstrate why supply chain resilience is crucial:

 

• The financial impact of supply chain disruptions was substantial. Over 16% of organizations reported severe revenue loss.¹
• Over 10% of organizations stated that supply chain disruptions had affected their brand’s reputation.¹
• Nearly 10% of organizations lost their regular customers following a bad experience due to a broken supply chain.¹

 
Despite this, over 70% of organizations don’t have a business operations contingency plan to deal with disruptions lasting more than a few weeks.²
 

4 Core Elements of a Resilient Supply Chain

 
A resilient supply chain incorporates the following four essential elements, regardless of industry or geographic location:

 

1. End-to-End Monitoring

A resilient supply chain requires continual monitoring. However, today's organizations frequently lack awareness of what's going on with their vendors and consumers at different levels. Vendors that are critical to a company's success should always be closely monitored.

 
It's critical to identify issues before they become severe impediments, such as ransomware penetrating your network or a computer part being delayed in shipment. Knowing about issues as soon as they arise allows you to seek out other options and update customers quickly.

 

2. Sourcing Diversification

Even though eliminating single points of failure is a critical part of risk mitigation, many companies still rely on a single vendor, region or country in their supply chain portfolios. It's ideal to employ a mix of near-shore and offshore vendors for each component so that if one region/vendor goes down, suppliers from other locations can step in.

 

3. Incident Tolerance

Security, backup and compliance postures must be strengthened to ensure operations continue even if one of the vendors/regions gets affected. The goal must be to build incident tolerance or the ability to ensure that the supply chain keeps running, regardless of the nature or scope of an incident.

 

4. Agility

The most successful organizations operate with an agile mindset. They work hard to keep up with market trends as well as the latest technology developments. They use the best tools and strategies in the industry to gain insights, foresee opportunities and risks, and take aggressive action ahead of their competitors.

 

The Key Enablers of Supply Chain Resilience

 
People, processes and technology are the three key enablers of a robust supply chain resilience strategy.

 

People

When it comes to the supply chain, a crisis management team comprised of the most skilled and resilient people must be established.

 
By relying on organizational insights, the team must draft a response playbook and acquire appropriate technologies. Additionally, to prepare the entire organization for disruptions, the team must develop and run mock drills.

 

Processes

Employees perform at their best when efficient and reliable processes support them. As a result, digitizing as many processes as possible is highly recommended. This allows organizations to access large amounts of data and information in real time, which they can utilize to make decisions regarding crucial competencies required to navigate a crisis.

 

Technology

Technology can fine-tune the processes within an organization accurately. Using proper technologies to construct a centralized incident management system is the best method to detect issues and maintain accountability within the supply chain.

 
Although making your supply chain resilient is a vital undertaking, it takes time, effort and expertise. Working with a specialist like us to manage resilience matters while you focus on running your organization is ideal. Contact us to schedule a no-obligation consultation.

 

---

                                                                                                                             
 
Sources:

1. Supply Chain Resilience Report 2021
2. Accenture - A pragmatic approach to maintaining supply chain resilience in times of uncertainty

A Resilient Organization Starts with Cyber Resilience —Here’s Why

 
Global events, such as recessions and pandemics, create enormous social and economic challenges that impact organizations and their management. From employee and customer satisfaction to financial difficulties, supply chain disruption and skyrocketing cyberattacks, top-level management oversees a wide range of concerns.

 
As business owners aim to address multiple challenges that may be a threat to their organizations’ success, resilience is a trending buzzword. Organizational resilience is an organization's ability to foresee, plan for, respond to and adapt to gradual change and unexpected disruptions to survive and thrive.

 
Even during the most recent COVID-19 pandemic, organizations that already practiced methods to cultivate resilience through remote/hybrid work, digital acceleration and more, showed that they can quickly recover from setbacks and have an advantage over competitors.

 
If you want to prioritize resiliency within your own business, one of the first steps you should take is building cyber resilience. Cyber resilience refers to an organization's ability to consistently deliver the desired outcome in the face of adverse cyber events.

 

Cyber Resilience Powers Transformation

 
According to Forrester, cyber resilience is more than just a security imperative. It’s the foundation of a strong business and brand. This is one of the reasons why over 65% of organizations are investing in improving their cyber resiliency posture.¹ Businesses across the globe have begun to realize that it’s time to look inward and identify and close security gaps to build a more resilient future.

 
While establishing cyber resilience, consider the following:

 

1. You must deploy tools to detect, evaluate and handle network and information system risks, including those that affect your supply chain.
2. It’s critical to identify irregularities and potential cybersecurity issues through continuous network and information system monitoring before they morph into severe threats.
3. Implementing an incident response strategy is crucial to ensure operational continuity where you can bounce back quickly even if you are the victim of a cyberattack.
4. Always ensure that your cyber resilience strategy is overseen by top management and integrated into day-to-day operations.

 
Companies that invested in cyber resilience expected to get the following results¹:

 

• Increased secure collaboration within the organization
• Better preparedness, response and/or remediation skills in the event of a security incident
• Improved integration of people, processes and technology

 

How to Improve Your Cyber Resilience

 

• Employee training

Providing continual security awareness training to your employees enables them to identify threats and vulnerabilities. It enhances employees' defensive abilities and prepares them to effectively deal with a crisis.

 

• Stay current with technological advances and the threat landscape

It's crucial to keep up with the latest technology developments and threats. If you have no understanding of what you're up against, you can’t protect your business.

 

• Reset your security systems

Regularly audit your digital and physical systems to identify vulnerabilities. Set the critical systems to their best available configurations to prevent unauthorized access.

 

• Adopt advanced technologies

Legacy technologies may be ineffective in dealing with today's challenges. As a result, having the most up-to-date and effective technologies and tools to secure your organization is critical.

 

• Partner with an MSP

Resiliency is no longer a choice but a necessity. However, it requires a significant amount of time, effort and expertise. It’s always best to collaborate with an expert partner like us who can handle all resiliency and technology matters for you.

 
If you’re ready to take the first step towards building cyber resiliency in your organization but aren’t sure where to start, contact us to schedule a no-obligation consultation.

 


 
 
 
 
 

Sources:

1. Cyber Resilience Study

A Resilient Organization Starts with Cyber Resilience —Here’s Why

  Global events, such as recessions and pandemics, create enormous social and economic challenges that impact organizations and their management. From employee and customer satisfaction to financial difficulties, supply chain disruption and skyrocketing cyberattacks, top-level management oversees a wide range of concerns.

  As business owners aim to address multiple challenges that may be a threat to their organizations’ success, resilience is a trending buzzword. Organizational resilience is an organization's ability to foresee, plan for, respond to and adapt to gradual change and unexpected disruptions to survive and thrive.

  Even during the most recent COVID-19 pandemic, organizations that already practiced methods to cultivate resilience through remote/hybrid work, digital acceleration and more, showed that they can quickly recover from setbacks and have an advantage over competitors.

  If you want to prioritize resiliency within your own business, one of the first steps you should take is building cyber resilience. Cyber resilience refers to an organization's ability to consistently deliver the desired outcome in the face of adverse cyber events.

 

Cyber Resilience Powers Transformation

  According to Forrester, cyber resilience is more than just a security imperative. It’s the foundation of a strong business and brand. This is one of the reasons why over 65% of organizations are investing in improving their cyber resiliency posture.¹ Businesses across the globe have begun to realize that it’s time to look inward and identify and close security gaps to build a more resilient future.

  While establishing cyber resilience, consider the following:

 

1. You must deploy tools to detect, evaluate and handle network and information system risks, including those that affect your supply chain.
2. It’s critical to identify irregularities and potential cybersecurity issues through continuous network and information system monitoring before they morph into severe threats.
3. Implementing an incident response strategy is crucial to ensure operational continuity where you can bounce back quickly even if you are the victim of a cyberattack.
4. Always ensure that your cyber resilience strategy is overseen by top management and integrated into day-to-day operations.

  Companies that invested in cyber resilience expected to get the following results¹:

 

• Increased secure collaboration within the organization
• Better preparedness, response and/or remediation skills in the event of a security incident
• Improved integration of people, processes and technology

 

How to Improve Your Cyber Resilience

 

• Employee training

Providing continual security awareness training to your employees enables them to identify threats and vulnerabilities. It enhances employees' defensive abilities and prepares them to effectively deal with a crisis.

 

• Stay current with technological advances and the threat landscape

It's crucial to keep up with the latest technology developments and threats. If you have no understanding of what you're up against, you can’t protect your business.

 

• Reset your security systems

Regularly audit your digital and physical systems to identify vulnerabilities. Set the critical systems to their best available configurations to prevent unauthorized access.

 

• Adopt advanced technologies

Legacy technologies may be ineffective in dealing with today's challenges. As a result, having the most up-to-date and effective technologies and tools to secure your organization is critical.

 

• Partner with an MSP

Resiliency is no longer a choice but a necessity. However, it requires a significant amount of time, effort and expertise. It’s always best to collaborate with an expert partner like us who can handle all resiliency and technology matters for you.

  If you’re ready to take the first step towards building cyber resiliency in your organization but aren’t sure where to start, contact us to schedule a no-obligation consultation.

 

---

         

Sources:

1. Cyber Resilience Study

The National Rifle Association (NRA)

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/cybercriminals-claim-hacked-nra-rcna3929

Exploit: Ransomware

National Rifle Association: Gun Rights Activist Group
Individual Impact: No consumer PII or financial data loss was disclosed in this breach as of press time.

Customers Impacted: Unknown

How It Could Affect Your Business: Ransomware can be used to steal and publicize sensitive information that a company doesn’t want exposed.

 

 

PracticeMax

https://www.govinfosecurity.com/phi-stolen-in-practice-management-firms-ransomware-attack-a-17813

Exploit: Ransomware

PracticeMax: Medical Practice Management Services
Customers Impacted: Unknown

How It Could Affect Your Business: Service providers that handle a lot of valuable data have been favored targets of ransomware groups looking to profit in the booming data markets.

 

 

United States – Schreiber Foods

https://www.zdnet.com/article/schreiber-foods-back-to-normal-after-ransomware-attack-shut-down-milk-plants/
Exploit: Ransomware

Schreiber Foods: Dairy Processor
Individual Impact: No consumer PII or financial data exposure was disclosed in this incident as of press time.

Customers Impacted: Unknown

How It Could Affect Your Business: In September, the FBI released a notice warning companies in the food and agriculture sectors to watch out for ransomware attacks aiming to disrupt supply chains.

 

 

Canada – Toronto Transit Commission (TTC)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ttc-ransomware-attack-1.6231349
Exploit: Hacking

Toronto Transit Commission (TTC): Government Entity
Individual Impact: No consumer PII or financial data exposure was disclosed in this incident as of press time.

Customers Impacted: Unknown

How it Could Affect Your Business: Cyberattacks on infrastructure targets are common, and that means that organizations that run and serve them need to step up their security game.

 

 

United Kingdom – Graff

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10148265/Massive-cyber-heist-rocks-high-society-jeweller-Graff.html
Exploit: Ransomware

Graff: Jeweler
Individual Impact: No consumer PII or financial data exposure was disclosed in this incident as of press time.

Customers Impacted: Unknown

How it Could Affect Your Business: Firms like Graff not only have records on deep-pocketed clients, they also have records on transactions that those clients may want to have kept quiet.

 

 

Poland – C.R.E.A.M. Finance

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/123861/cyber-crime/cream-finance-cyber-heist-130m.html
Exploit: Cryptojacking (Misconfiguration)

C.R.E.A.M. Finance: Decentralized Lending Platform
Individual Impact: No consumer PII or financial data exposure was disclosed in this incident as of press time.

Customers Impacted: Unknown

How it Could Affect Your Business: Cybercriminals are always hungry for cash and crypto is the currency that they prefer, so stealing it will continue to be a popular option.

 

 

Thailand – Centara Hotels & Resorts

https://www.zdnet.com/article/luxury-hotel-chain-in-thailand-reports-data-breach/

Exploit: Ransomware

Centara Hotels & Resorts: Hotel Chain
Customers Impacted: Unknown

How it Could Affect Your Business: Big pools of information are catnip to ransomware gangs, especially highly desirable PII or credit card data.