Risk management has become a key area of focus in recent years. While many companies have invested significant risk management resources in such areas as sales, operations and IT, it hasn’t been until recently that many began to put the same focus on the supply chain. This should come as no surprise, given the fact that it’s impossible to open a major business publication these days without seeing the impact of the failure to invest in supply risk. The major business headlines of the past 12 months capture the stories:

• RC2, a toy importer, loses hundreds of millions of dollars in market capitalization due to hazardous materials (i.e., lead paint)
• The Gap’s suppliers – the same store that markets sustainable, community initiatives through Project Red – finds that at least one of its suppliers violated child labor laws
• The US automotive industry – dozens of bankruptcies and counting (not to mention idled facilities as inventory from bankrupt suppliers was used up)

 

Risk management and internal audit teams must be on the forefront of developing and maintaining supply risk programs for their companies. That’s because procurement and operations organizations are often stretched to the limit and have few resources to devote to such initiatives (despite their direct impact and importance to the business). Aravo SIM is a centralized platform that enables risk management professionals to gain visibility into supplier information that's essential to mitigate and manage supply chain risk.

Aravo SIM enables risk management professionals to:

• Centralize the management of all supplier information (even in a complex, decentralized people and technology environment)
• Gain a common view of internal and external risk-related metrics (e.g., third party risk data, internal supplier scorecard/performance data)
• Tier and segment suppliers into risk categories (and take corrective action steps)
• Manage supplier compliance related information and credentials