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SAFE AND
SECURE
How technology is key to managing the
B2B supply chain. By Steve Bennett
The secure and ef cient supply
chain is crucial to the success
and longevity of any business
and technology has drastically
impacted the way in which the supply
chain functions and the way in which
businesses interact with it.
Technology has strengthened the
links in the supply chain, making the
process transparent and tying supply
chain management in with advertising,
forecasting and inventory control.
However, the supply chain is only
as strong as its weakest link, and if
there is a weak link, the chain is at
risk of breaking down, which will have
an impact on your business and your
customers. The following areas are
where technology can help manage
the supply chain and help overall
business ef ciency.
Avoiding downtime
Man-made mistakes are one of the
leading causes of downtime and cyber
security breaches. From sending
sensitive information to clients via
the cloud, to inventory checking in
warehouses, digital systems ensure
accuracy. Downtime can cause
detrimental problems to any business,
and suppliers may be faced with
signi cant penalties and nes if they
do not meet production deadlines.
One way your business can
minimise any downtime is by reviewing
any potential vulnerabilities that may
lead to this and ensure you have a
robust and protected IT infrastructure.
Assess your actual requirements –
review your RPO and RTO to determine
how best to protect your systems
and more importantly how quickly you
can recover in the event of an outage
occurring, whilst maintaining strong
patching routines to ensure systems
are protected and any weaknesses in
software systems plugged.
Data retention
Many engineering and manufacturing
rms deal with large volumes of
sensitive data, and this data needs to
be stored properly. You need to make
sure that the way in which this data is
stored and shared with the appropriate
parties is done in a secure and
compliant manner. Some industries
are required to retain sensitive
information for up to 15 years, so a
de ned and proven data backup and
recovery strategy is vital.
One way to remain compliant
and ensure your data is secure is by
storing it on a private, remote cloud.
This gives you easy access whilst
reducing your on-site energy costs and
environmental impact and provides
protection in the event of a re, ood,
theft or cyber-attack. Alongside this,
ensuring your servers and other
hardware is always up-to-date and
upgraded costs your business both
time and money. When you choose to
store your data on a private hosted
cloud, your team can access this
information on a secure, veri ed
device, wherever they are.
Remote working
According to the Of ce of National
Statistics (ONS) and High Speed
Of ce, exi-time rose by 12.35% from
2012 to 2016. In the last decade,
the number of UK employees working
remotely has increased by a quarter
of a million, and it’s thought that 50%
of the UK’s workforce will be working
remotely by 2020. From reducing
34 10 September 2019 www.newelectronics.co.uk
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