Blog

Moving your supplier risk and compliance process online – what do you need to consider?

Your organisation may already be collecting supplier information offline, for example through a spreadsheet or survey, so what are the key benefits of moving this activity online and what should you consider before doing so?

What are the main benefits of moving to an online process?

• Instant global scalability, enabling 100% supplier coverage
• Easy visibility of supplier compliance and risk
• Save time and cost associated with collection and management of large quantities of information
• Enable detailed analysis to ensure information is meaningful
• Consolidate all supplier information requirements in one place
• Access supplier information at the touch of a button
• Improve compliance through making process efficient and user friendly for suppliers

Greenbiz Forum Blog Series. Part 3: Save our planet! It’s the only one with suppliers

Greenstone's Head of Client Services, David Wynn attended the annual Greenbiz Conference in Phoenix (17th-19th February 2015). In this blog series he reflects on some of the key trends from the event.

“Save our planet! It's the only one with coffee” was Jim Hanna at Starbuck’s closing quip at Greenbiz Forum 2015. As Director of Environmental Affairs for the coffee giant, his ‘one great idea’ pitch was scaling sustainable innovation. And with over 12,000 global stores that’s no easy challenge. The challenge of engaging with suppliers at scale is twofold. How do you engage suppliers on environmental issues? But even more challengingly, how do you engage suppliers on environmental issues that span interconnected and dependant supply chain processes?

Supplier Portal Blog Series Part 2: Environment

Companies are increasingly discovering that environmental and energy-related supply chain risks are both significant and material to their short and long term operational prosperity. With such issues now an everyday topic of conversation, the need to ensure environmental supplier compliance is becoming a central part of business strategy.

How are expectations of supplier relationships changing?

When it comes to managing relationships with suppliers, businesses are under increasing pressure. Why has this come about? Partially it’s because of evolving standards and legislative requirements related to human rights, social inequality and safeguards for consumers (amongst other factors). These require businesses to be proactive with their suppliers, to ensure compliance.

Alongside this, there is a rising numbers of online commentators, who are using social media, blogging and video to highlight any apparent success or otherwise.  While businesses were once less visible, this modern network of influencers means the need for transparency is growing. Now, more than ever, organisations need to understand how the expectations of supplier management are changing, so they can meet and exceed them. 

The influence of environmental factors on supplier relationships

How to manage supplier data efficiently and accurately

As a buyer, there’s a good chance you are juggling data, left, right and centre. You’re trying to keep on top of your supplier data, while also having to compare supplier performance and monitor supplier compliance.

But it’s not an easy task for suppliers to manage these data requirements either. On top of supplying their products or services, suppliers are increasingly expected to process countless requests for data. Often they have to calculate their carbon, waste and water footprints, generate reports for general business use and share this information with all of their customers to demonstrate a level of compliance.