Intelligent CIO Europe Issue 33 | Page 77

t cht lk REDUCE THIRD-PARTY RISK AND DRIVE BETTER BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE Jon Fielding, Managing Director, EMEA, Apricorn, discusses some of the risks associated with third-party contractors in the manufacturing industry and the steps organisations should take to methodically improve the quality of their data. The ongoing tragedy of the novel Coronavirus outbreak has underlined the fragility of many highly complex global manufacturing supply chains – a huge and multi-faceted issue that will require expertise and creative innovation from a broad range of sectors to completely solve. Across the UK, Europe and many other places, the first quarter of 2020 has been characterised by a range of unexpected parts and product shortages, stemming from the rapidly changing conditions and limitations appearing across multi-party supply chains. UK supply-chain issues in consumer retail (supermarket supplies of toilet tissue) and even healthcare (sanitising and protective equipment such as masks and goggles) immediately spring to mind. Similar issues have been highlighted during previous crises, such as the 2011 undersea earthquake and associated Fukushima reactor disaster in Japan. This catastrophe saw unprepared companies around the “ THERE ARE CERTAIN FOUNDATIONAL BUILDING BLOCKS OF DATA QUALITY AND INFORMATIONAL ASSURANCE THAT EVERY FIRM SHOULD EMPLOY. www.intelligentcio.com INTELLIGENTCIO 77