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Oracle Supply Chain Management,
Supply Chain Planning
September 13, 2016
U.S. Intelligence Illuminates Critical Need for Supply Chain Planning and Risk Mitigation
The U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) recently announced its plans to help industry and government address supply chain risks. As a part of this campaign, the NCSC released a video outlining threats that foreign entities, criminals, and hackers present to the private sector supply chain—and in turn to the public sector organizations that use goods and services from the private sector.
The video aims to increase knowledge of elevated supply chain threats due to the growing reliance on globally sourced commercial information and technologies for essential systems and services. Those threats are spread to end users through products and services that may include defective, counterfeit or otherwise tainted components; the NCSC uses compromised telecommunications equipment as an example.
The NCSC also plans to eventually provide threat briefings to industry to help them safeguard their supply chains and acquisition processes, though no timeline has been announced. The program will be focused on U.S. telecommunications, energy and financial businesses, as they represent prime targets for adversaries to steal sensitive information or disrupt operations.
The types of supply chain risks targeted in this campaign may seem unlikely to many companies, but they pose real danger that will create ripple effects across industry. The NCSC in particular calls out the need for companies to know their suppliers and ask the right questions of them, including:
- Who are your strategic partners and subcontractors?
- How do you manage your own supply chain risks?
- Who are you purchasing parts or services from?
It’s critical to note that these are questions that companies should ask of their suppliers as part of all routine planning processes. Successful supply chain planning hinges on perpetual collaboration and visibility with suppliers. Supply chain risks don’t just arise from nefarious groups, clearly. Everything from increasing supply chain complexity and shorter product life cycles, to natural disasters and changing regulatory guidelines create supply chain risk on an ongoing basis.
As a result, it’s critical for companies to establish collaborative, transparent partnerships with suppliers. Likewise, companies who want to be successful in this volatile environment need to implement supply chain planning solutions that enable them to respond with agility and data-driven decisions in the face of unexpected events. And with a resilient supply chain planning process powered by secure cloud technology and real-time data, companies can monitor plan deviations, analyze alternatives, and re-plan in real time—without compromising profitability or customer service.
Oracle Supply Chain Planning Cloud enables companies to interactively balance demand and supply to improve supply chain responsiveness and achieve superior business performance. With Oracle Supply Chain Planning Cloud, companies can simplify planning, solve supply chain problems quickly, increase supply chain efficiency, and enhance planner productivity.
Related content:
Video: Oracle Supply Chain Planning Cloud - Planning Central Demo
Webpage: Supply Chain Planning Cloud Features
Blog: Planning + Manufacturing=Plan to Produce in the Cloud
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