Supply Chain Risks Associated with Implementation of an Online Portal

Based on the case study reading of the Bloomfield Homes Company, it can be depicted that the company is at a higher potential risk level in terms of implementing the online portal plan for supplier management. The justification behind the same is that the team of the company currently lack any knowledge and experience in terms of managing diversified aspects such as financial diligence, team performance, rates of quality defect, SLA, OTIF and other KPIs through the help of system or software management.

In this connection, the supply chain risks that are associated firstly relate with the cyber risk threat at a higher level. With the benefit of the online technological portal enriched with data science and cloud computing, there is an extensive risk of cyber theft of important and confidential information (Tao, Akhtar, & Jiayuan, 2021). Moreover, Bloomfield Homes does not hold any due experience in handling the software systems which may lead to increased chances of cyber incidents comprising the security need of information management. Secondly, the risk is associated with a lack of transparency amongst the diversified employees leading to employee demotivation. With data and information accessible on the software not every employee will have access to the same or even learning of how to operate the software (Haakman et al., 2021). This, in turn, may lead to the end-to-end visibility in supply chain management getting disturbed and thus issues in the effectiveness of the results desired to be gained. Lastly, the risk may be associated with a lack of reliability and consistency level in the supply chain business information risk management. With information coming from the suppliers directly to the software through IoT networks, there is a risk of a lack of integration and standardisation of data in real-time (Falcone, Steelman, & Aloysius, 2021).

Appraisal of how data collected can be used through the portal

The data collected from the online portal that will be newly designed can be used by Bloomfield to further improve supplier collaboration and integration with the help of gaining a unified view of the business transactions encompassing the functions as well as diversified departments of the supply chain management in the first place. The online software will help the company to put together all the working departments and functions of the supply chain unit across the Bloomfield Company into a single information system and help to use one unique set of databases (Attaran, 2020). The data collected with the means traditional method of old standalone computers, finance and HR and so on will be replaced with a single unified online software rendering a consistent view of data. Therefore, this available real-time data can be significantly used in the development of effective and efficient supplier network collaboration. The suppliers will be able to look through the data and react towards the needed changes for the orders to be delivered quickly. The Bloomfield organisation in return would be able to keep track of the supplier performance and track the result of the order delivery. This, in turn, will also allow us to gain effective information and data about customer satisfaction and demand fulfilment rate. This data about customers can be then used by Bloomfield to be involved in change management and implement the needed changes in the supply chain management that would help in the improvement of the existing processes and gain increased customer satisfaction and thus better sales and profit-earnings ratio.

In addition to the above, the collected data from the online portal in terms of the inventory management put in by the warehouse department of Bloomfield can be used by the company to keep real-time stock updates managed (Ibrahim-Imam, 2020). This, in turn, will help in ensuring that consistent knowledge about the products that are not in stock can be known and the same will help to manage both the stock shortage and overrun to help fulfil the customers’ demand and inventory waste management, respectively. Nonetheless, the collected data can be used to improve employee performance at the company by understanding the level of focus they are placing on the management of the supply chain through the help of the results data reflected in the portal.

The Benefits of Outsourcing the Online Portal to a Software Provider

As known from the above study modern supply chain management has evolved from the times it was simple and linear connections between the concerned business and suppliers used to work with the diversified departments and functions (Aityassine et al., 2021). Supply chain management in the current times has been more complex and the need to manage the same requires best-in-class resources. Thus, supply chain management is critical to the business success, the benefit of outsourcing the online portal to a software provider for Bloomfield would include building of better product or say service that is demanded for the management of the supply chain network in the first place (Kurpjuweit et al., 2021). Secondly , outsourcing will help in the development of novel ideas and concepts for supply chain management through the online portal. Third, the market as well as the customer-business relationship will strengthen with the help of outsourcing the online portal since professionals will work towards better positioning of the portal and the same will turn out to be user-friendly. The next advantage of outsourcing would be the help gained in the strategic positioning of the supply chain unit through the help of the portal to facilitate a higher level and customer service and thus business growth.

In addition to the above, another advantage of outsourcing for Bloomfield would be the reduction in the overall operational cost of the firm. Usually, supply chain activities demand extensive infrastructure, overhead costs as well and staffing charges to be incurred. However, with the means of outsourcing the third party will handle the online portal in-house and thus savings will be greater (Bernacki, & Lis, 2021). Last, but not least, the benefit that can be gained by Bloomfield Company is to ensure that the online portal is being managed without any additional cost of training to be bearded along with reducing the risk of mismanagement of the portal. This is because it was known through the case study that Bloomfield have no idea or system available as of now for the management of the supply chain through online system and software. Thus, the third-party handling of the same would help in reducing stress, risk and cost of extensive training.

References

Aityassine, F., Aldiabat, B., Al-rjoub, S., Aldaihani, F., Al-Shorman, H., & Al-Hawary, S. (2021). The mediating effect of just in time on the relationship between green supply chain management practices and performance in the manufacturing companies. Uncertain Supply Chain Management , 9 (4), 1081-1090. http://m.growingscience.com/beta/uscm/5337-the-mediating-effect-of-just-in-time-on-the-relationship-between-green-supply-chain-management-practices-and-performance-in-the-manufacturing-companies.html

Attaran, M. (2020, July). Digital technology enablers and their implications for supply chain management. In Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal (Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 158-172). Taylor & Francis. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/16258312.2020.1751568

Bernacki, D., & Lis, C. (2021). Investigating the sustainable impact of seaport infrastructure provision on maritime component of supply chain. Energies , 14 (12), 3519.

Falcone, E. C., Steelman, Z. R., & Aloysius, J. A. (2021). Understanding managers’ reactions to blockchain technologies in the supply chain: The reliable and unbiased software agent. Journal of Business Logistics , 42 (1), 25-45. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jbl.12263

Haakman, M., Cruz, L., Huijgens, H., & van Deursen, A. (2021). AI lifecycle models need to be revised: An exploratory study in Fintech. Empirical Software Engineering , 26 , 1-29. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10664-021-09993-1

Ibrahim-Imam, S. (2020). DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ONLINE INVENTORY MONITORING SYSTEM. https://portal.bazeuniversity.edu.ng/student/assets/thesis/202102191437111722948637.pdf

Kurpjuweit, S., Schmidt, C. G., Klöckner, M., & Wagner, S. M. (2021). Blockchain in additive manufacturing and its impact on supply chains. Journal of Business Logistics , 42 (1), 46-70. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jbl.12231

Tao, F., Akhtar, M. S., & Jiayuan, Z. (2021). The future of artificial intelligence in cybersecurity: A comprehensive survey. EAI Endorsed Transactions on Creative Technologies , 8 (28), e3-e3. 

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