A successful business resiliency program involves anticipating and preparing for the major disruptive threats that a company faces. Cisco’s business resiliency efforts range from helping to ensure redundancy in communications systems to maintaining the safety of Cisco employees to dealing with pandemic threats and natural disasters to evaluating geopolitical risks within our supply chains.
Cisco also develops “risk maps” that measure the likelihood and severity of an adverse event based on interviews with the risk owners within the company. These risk maps identify the portfolio of assets that are at risk, the level of risk, what considerations need to be built into the business model to address the risks, and how the risks should factor into a group or business unit’s decision-making process.
Helping Cisco Partners Reduce Risk
In the supply chain, Cisco works with our partners to help minimize their risks, which in turn reduces risk for Cisco. The supply-chain risk management organization helps to develop analytics to assess and predict risk scenarios, then works directly with the manufacturing entities to help identify, assess, and avoid risks. Site assessments are undertaken directly, or we employ a third-party assessor to do the inspection. Risk assessors employ actuarial data to look at factors like the potential for a natural disaster at the site.
Over the past year we have extended our view into and understanding of our supply chain to include a more rigorous examination of the emerging market countries in which we do business. To proactively understand and address the challenges in the supply chain in these countries, we developed a systematic process which aims to identify the supply chain transformation required to improve supply chain performance and customer satisfaction, based on the unique aspects of each country. The following factors are taken into consideration:
We also determine site-specific risks to buildings and equipment. For example, one location may introduce a higher geopolitical risk but present fewer natural-hazard risks. We try to anticipate and avert possible problems.
To support sound business resiliency decisions throughout our relationships with our suppliers, we meet regularly with the contract manufacturers and key component suppliers who build or add value to our products, to discuss what risks we face and what actions those risks require.
Similarly, within our sales operations, our country managers review new sales engagements. Our sales team as well as sales partners and resellers receive training on our business ethics. Country managers monitor and vet sales engagements in the field and are supported by local legal resources and HR staff to escalate issues requiring further efforts.
