One of the impacts of globalization is that communication networks have become interdependent. The interdependence is the cause of system vulnerability. This means that localized large-scale disasters in an area can cause the failure of communication systems in large geographical areas. This situation makes businesses with large supply chains vulnerable to risks associated with supply chain disruption.
To make matters worse, many companies opt to outsource some of their functions in order to optimize their business models. In the process, they inherit supply chain risks. Logistics companies are becoming more important in ensuring that supply chains remain active. Many companies use the services of logistics companies to coordinate their supply chains. This decision usually comes from the economic advantages of outsourcing of logistics. It frees the company to focus on its core business.
It is vital for every company to entrench resilience its supply chain. This involves ensuring that large-scale disruption caused by severe weather, political turmoil, or cyber warfare does not cripple its operations. The company needs to ensure that it has communication options that can continue to operate even under severe supply chain disruptions. Analysis of the risks associated with supply chains show that the robustness of communication systems has a significant influence on the resilience of the supply chains.
Communication is the core service that determines the capacity of a supply chain to resist disruption. All other components of a supply chain rely on communication systems. The five main operational components of a logistics company include the management of inventory, procurement, transport, customer care. Inventory management relies on the communication between supplies and sales departments.
Procurement on the other hand relies on the capacity of a company to communicate with its suppliers in order to receive products into its inventory. Transport also relies on communication from drivers and pilots to determine the location of shipments. Finally, customer care involves keeping the customer informed on a regular basis, and on demand.
A resilient system has three main components. First, the system relies on a core network that is highly tolerant to disruptions. These systems meet the “SIRS” criteria. SIRS stands for scalability, integration, resistance, and security. Scalability is the ability of a system to accommodate expansion and future demands such as increasing data transfer capacity.
Integration means that the system must have the capacity to accommodate new devices and applications. The requirement for the system to be resistant means that the system should not fail in the event of a failure in the connections between two or more components. Finally, security demands on systems refer to its ability to resist hacking from any form of cyber attack.
Secondly, for a system to be disaster tolerant, it must have the capacity to operate during disasters. The easiest way of achieving this is by using backup data centers and customer care centers located in different regions from the primary ones. If an organization cannot afford to develop these services internally, then it can consider outsourcing these services to data warehouses that specialize in data security.
The third element of a resilient communication system is the existence of a communication plan for use in emergencies. The company must have a way of reaching its staff, customers, and shareholders in the event of a catastrophe. All these groups of stakeholders must have easy access to the emergency communication infrastructure. The system must also have the ability to support mass communication. Finally, the system needs to operate on a resilient wireless network.