A study of 300 supply chain and procurement decision-makers in the UK found that 45% anticipate that supply chain disruption will increase over the next year, with 60% agreeing that their supply chains feel more fragile than ever.
The research, from provider of cloud-based, AI-powered spend management software Ivalua, has found that nearly half of UK businesses (47%) have experienced an increase in supply chain disruption in the past 12 months.
In the past 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%).
“Supply chain disruption continues to have a significant impact on business operations due to repeated, unpredictable ‘Black Swan’ events,” said 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.”
The increasing number of supply chain disruptions have prompted organisations to re-evaluate supply chain strategies to insulate themselves from supply chain shocks. However, 46% don’t have enough visibility into which suppliers are impacted by supply chain disruption, while 43% of organisations say they can’t adapt quick enough.
To deal with ongoing uncertainty, UK businesses are focusing on adopting the right tools and processes. Over half (58%) of organisations said investing in technology to improve supply chain visibility has been very effective at helping to mitigate the impact of supply chain disruption, while 58% said 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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