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Can product compliance be managed proactively? As the requirements expand up and down the supply chain and throughout the product lifecycle, the organizational responsibilities have moved beyond traditional EHS disciplines. Supplier conformance is now intricately entangled with upstream material compliance, and one without the other may ultimately end in vendor disqualification. As many focus on the challenges associated with pulling information from suppliers, equal time should be given to strategies that feed downstream customers with disparate sources of information as soon as or even before they ask.
Is there a discernable advantage for those who not only articulate the value of their products but also demonstrate their ability to deliver comprehensive compliance dossiers that prospective clients need today or will require in the future? It depends on the value of making it seamless for downstream clients to be in compliance with enforceable mandates and standards and aligned with their customer’s expectations. What impact will that have on vendor selection decisions?
The B2B buying paradigm has shifted seismically, and is starting to align more with B2C in terms of being customer-driven. The focus is no longer how we want to sell our offerings, but rather how our customers want and need to buy them. Prospective clients consume significant amounts of information before engaging with a supplier to augment vendor selection, and once the engagement becomes contractual, the requirements for information could broaden out across the globe. There has been a revolution of sorts in the world of purchasing from merely buying to strategic sourcing with sophisticated supply chain management methodologies and information management technologies that often require a robust data exchange with both ends of the supply chain.
In this new age of content consumption buyers control the sales cycle and that’s not likely to change. The company that creates the best environment for a connected experience that includes simple and easy access to substance, material and supplier level data from source to origin is positioned to win.
This, of course, will not happen by accident. As with most paradigm shifts, the challenges are front loaded. Securing buy in and budget will require a detailed plan that ties resource allocation and spend to identifiable rewards. Data-centric architectures that enable agile compliance frameworks and follow best practices for managing change will likely be a strategic centerpiece.
The options range from doing nothing or doing very little, reacting out of desperation and client demand (often at the eleventh hour), or proactively tackling a progressive beast that has been bearing down on industry for more than a decade. The risk and rewards of each action should receive serious consideration.
To learn more about the advantages of proactive product compliance, join 3E Company at Ignite Performance 2017 for a rapid fire discussion of interdependent strategies designed to help you make the transition from reactive to proactive compliance management. We’ll start with a source-to-origin methodology, discuss solutions that enable agile compliance frameworks and finish with best practices for monitoring, tracking and anticipating the impacts of potential change.
Can Product Compliance be Managed Proactively?
Kami Blake, 3E Company
Ignite Performance 2017
Intelex User Conference
Toronto Canada
April 12, 2017
11:30 - 11:50
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