In today’s hyperconnected world, supply chains face constant threats – from geopolitical shifts to natural disasters. For procurement professionals, the old playbook of cost-cutting and efficiency is no longer enough. The new imperative is resilience by design: building supply networks that not only survive disruptions but thrive because of them.
Only a data-driven strategy with real-time visibility and predictive analytics can cut through the chaos, anticipate threats, and build true resilience.
On a global scale, there are countless events that could impact a supply chain: from natural disasters (which are on the rise according to the United Nations) to port closures to ever-changing trade relations. Yet, according to McKinsey, only a quarter of supply chain professionals said their organisations have a formal process in place to discuss these issues.
The need for strategic patience and curiosity
When a crisis hits, the instinct is to act fast. But in procurement, speed without strategy can backfire. Strategic patience – slowing down to assess, understand, and plan – often leads to smarter decisions.
This approach is rooted in curiosity: digging deep into every layer of your supply network. It’s not enough to know your direct suppliers; you must understand their suppliers, and even their suppliers’ suppliers. Where are your components made, tested, packed, and shipped? What happens and what should you do if any link in the chain fails?
Consider the ‘country-of-origin’ label, for example. Depending on the part’s content and manufacturing location, for one country a part might be labeled as ‘Made in Vietnam’, but for another country, it could be classified as having ‘Chinese origin’. These distinctions can mean the difference between smooth customs clearance and costly delays. Procurement pros must ask the right questions, use digital tools to map supply networks, and work hand in hand with trade compliance experts in navigating this ever-changing landscape.
AI-powered analytics can reveal hidden vulnerabilities, but only if you’re curious enough to probe the data and challenge assumptions.
If curiosity is the mindset, the data feeding AI is the muscle. Predictive analytics and real-time visibility help companies forecast demand, optimise inventory, and respond to disruptions. The future is autonomous: AI agents working with suppliers, or robots navigating warehouses for example. The competitive edge now belongs to those who embrace AI. Those who don’t risk falling behind.
Breaking down silos to build resiliency
Traditional corporate structures where departments operate in isolation are ill-suited for modern supply chain challenges. Tariff changes, for example, affect finance, logistics, trade compliance, procurement, and marketing.
If each team optimises for its own KPIs, chaos can result. The solution is cross-functional collaboration: regular meetings where trade compliance, IT, sales, and operations work together to solve problems. These aren’t just status updates. They’re real-time strategy sessions that uncover insights no single department could find alone and help to build supply chain sustainability. Sustainability once meant ‘going green’. Today, it means building supply chains that can withstand shocks of all kinds.
Intelligent redundancy – diversifying suppliers and regions, maintaining buffers, and planning for multiple scenarios – is key.
Ask ‘what if?’ before disaster strikes: What if a port closes? What if trade relations sour? What if a natural disaster hits a top supplier? Companies that plan for these scenarios are the ones that thrive.
Resilience is about adaptability; assurance of supply is about continuity. Together, they form a strategy that balances proactive risk management with contingency planning.
Secure long-term agreements build strategic buffer stock and diversify sources. Don’t let the focus on resiliency fade as memories of the last crisis recede. Embedding resilience and assurance into company and supply chain culture is essential. It’s the difference between scrambling for parts and calmly pivoting to Plan B, or Plan C.
Here are five steps to build supply chain resilience:
- Map your supply network deeply. Go beyond Tier 1 suppliers. Use digital tools to visualise every distinct point of activity in your supply chain and identify single points of failure and their respective impact (the value at risk)
- Institutionalise cross-functional collaboration. Hold regular meetings across procurement, logistics, finance, compliance, and IT. Share insights and solve problems together with a common goal
- Invest in AI-driven risk intelligence. Deploy platforms for real-time visibility, predictive analytics and event monitoring. Use scenario analysis to prepare for disruptions
- Diversify and redundantly source critical components. Build relationships with suppliers in multiple regions. Maintain strategic safety stock where appropriate and establish long-term agreements
- Embed resilience into culture and KPIs. Make resilience a core value, not a one-time project. Train teams in scenario planning and reward long-term thinking
The new metrics of success
Efficiency still matters, but flexibility, transparency, and long-term thinking are now the benchmarks for a successful supply chain strategy. The best procurement professionals resist impulsive reactions, ask better questions, build stronger networks, and use technology to anticipate disruptions. Resilience isn’t a buzzword. It’s a design principle. Those who embrace it will turn uncertainty into opportunity and disruption into innovation.
About the author:
Robert Cowan, Director, Global Supply Chain Solutions Development, Avnet
This article originally appeared in the Nov/Dec issue of Procurement Pro.
