Moving forward organisations will need to consider new sources of growth, which sectors or segments will drive demand, supply chain risk or the best ways to serve a more digitally engaged customer base.

All these aspects require data and the know-how to use it effectively. Yesterday’s data architecture cannot meet today’s need for speed, flexibility and innovation.

Waiting for a full set of facts to emerge before determining what to do is common mistake that many businesses make during a crisis. Because a crisis involves many unknowns and surprises, facts may not become clear within the necessary decision-making time frame.

But leaders should not resort to using their intuition alone. Leaders can better cope with uncertainty by continually collecting information and mapping multiple scenarios as the crisis unfolds and observing how well their responses work.

Using technology such as advanced analytics and other digital platforms can enable businesses to run scenarios, assessing trade-offs, improve transparency, accelerate response times, and even change production directions.

Creating a comprehensive view of the supply chain, mapping and identifying all risks and relationships will give the company a view of potential vulnerabilities. There are many strategies to minimise exposure to shocks such as strengthening cybersecurity tools, diversifying suppliers, or even onboarding backup vendors. But, one thing is true, when a shock does hit, companies need the ability to respond quickly.

In the past, ‘just-in-time’ and lean production systems enabled companies to improve both efficiency and the bottom line, but now, they may need to strike a balance between just-in-time and ‘just-in-case’. In fact, preparing for future hypotheticals may improve digital capabilities, boost productivity, or even strengthen the entire ecosystem.

For further information, including details on triggers to help you determine when to upgrade your legacy systems, download our full supply chain resilience whitepaper.