UK Businesses Coping With Rise In Supply Chain Disruptions

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nearly half of UK businesses (47%) have experienced an increase in supply chain disruption (Credit: Image by freepik)
UK businesses are facing significant supply chain disruptions, with nearly half experiencing increased disruption in the past year

Research from Ivalua, a leading provider of cloud-based, AI-powered Spend Management software, has found that nearly half of UK businesses (47%) have experienced an increase in supply chain disruption in the last 12 months.

Over the last year alone, UK businesses have been disrupted by high inflation (79%), high energy/fuel costs (75%), the war in Ukraine (53%) and the Red Sea conflict (44%).

The study into 300 supply chain and procurement decision-makers in the UK uncovered that over the next year, 45% are preparing for an increase in supply chain disruption.

60% of the businesses agreeing that after years of disruptions to operations, their supply chains feel more fragile than ever.

The survey was conducted by Sapio Research on behalf of Ivalua from 29th April to 10th May.

Avoiding risks

Hoping to provide aid for those supply chains looking to recover, UK businesses are saying the following strategies have been very effective at mitigating the impact of supply chain disruption:

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The Four Strategies
  • Improving the geographical diversity of their supplier base (64%)
  • Finding alternative suppliers for critical goods and services (64%)
  • Increasing nearshoring (63%)
  • Increasing onshoring (61%)

"Supply chain disruption continues to have a significant impact on business operations due to repeated, unpredictable 'Black Swan' events," says Ian Thompson, VP Northern Europe at Ivalua.

Ian Thompson, VP Northern Europe at Ivalua

"These major disruptions used to be rare, but now feel like a fact of life. This has meant global supply chains have become more fragile than ever, causing delays, shortages and increased costs as factories shut down and transportation networks fall victim to delays.

"Consequently, UK businesses feel like they're stuck in a loop of constant disruption, unable to fully recover after each event."

Preparing for disruptions before they spark a chain reaction

The rising number of supply chain disruptions has encouraged organisations to re-evaluate supply chain strategies to insulate themselves from supply chain shocks.

But, 46% don't have enough visibility into which suppliers are impacted by supply chain disruption, while 43% of organisations say they can't adapt quickly enough.

To address this ongoing uncertainty, UK businesses are making it paramount to adopt the right tools and processes.

Over half (58%) of the organisations said investing in technology to improve the visibility of the supply chain has worked well in their quest to mitigate the impact of supply chain disruption.

The same number says the same for collaborating with suppliers to share more risk data.

A further 71% said implementing AI to automate supplier risk management has been effective at reducing the effect of supply chain disruptions.

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Proactive measures are vital

"Four in ten UK businesses agree that their supply chain recovery is moving at a snail's pace, so it's vital they take proactive measures to minimise the impact of disruptions," adds Ian.

"This means arming procurement teams with the right tools to improve supply chain transparency and collaboration.

"A smarter approach to their procurement is required. This includes utilising AI to become more agile by gathering better insights from disparate information sources in near real time, giving complete visibility into all suppliers and all spend, enabling better decision making.

"This smarter approach helps provide a 360-degree view of everything that's happening within the supply chain, empowering procurement teams to anticipate disruption and be more agile in their response."



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