Organisations worldwide are facing a widening gap between growing supply chain risks and their ability to anticipate and respond effectively, according to a new study from Avetta. The findings indicate that fragmented risk systems, limited real-time visibility and reactive processes continue to constrain organisational preparedness.
The study found that 77% of respondents believe global supply chain and workforce risk has increased during the past 12 months. However, only 44% have fully centralised, real-time visibility into third-party workforce, safety and compliance risks.
This preparedness gap is already affecting business continuity. Around 68% of respondents reported workforce-related operational delays or shutdowns during the same period. In addition, 56% continue to depend on risk information that is delayed, fragmented or largely manual, while 39% identify risks only shortly before or after they begin affecting operations.
Third-party risk visibility has emerged as another major concern. Around 38% of respondents identified insufficient visibility into third-party risks as a key barrier to responding effectively to vulnerabilities.
Compliance Complexity Adds Pressure
Compliance requirements are also becoming increasingly difficult to manage. The research found that 71% of organisations experienced greater compliance complexity over the previous year, while 42% considered this complexity a major obstacle to effective risk response.
Despite this, 24% of organisations are still operating with fragmented or manual risk-management processes. More than half, or 53%, said compliance requirements frequently divert resources and time away from frontline safety activities. (MHL News)
The findings highlight the need for organisations to treat regulatory compliance as one component of a wider enterprise risk framework combining supplier performance, operational risk and safety management.
AI Adoption High, But Full Integration Limited
Artificial intelligence has become widespread within supply chain risk management, although adoption at enterprise scale remains limited.
According to the study, 97.2% of organisations are already using AI somewhere within their supply chain risk-management lifecycle. Yet only 38% have fully embedded AI throughout operations, while 51% use the technology in a limited capacity and 11% remain at an early stage of adoption.
The most common AI applications include supplier analysis (55%), regulatory tracking (51%), compliance measurement (50%), predictive safety monitoring (46%) and job safety analysis (42%).
The numbers suggest that organisations are primarily deploying AI for individual risk-management activities rather than integrating it into enterprise-wide decision-making.
Organisations Prioritise Predictive Risk Management
Businesses are increasingly focusing investment on capabilities that allow them to identify threats before disruptions occur.
Around 52% of respondents believe greater visibility into third-party safety, sustainability and financial risks would improve their ability to respond, while 48% identified real-time monitoring and predictive analytics as important capabilities. Separately, 50% ranked improved predictive risk visibility among their leading strategic priorities for the year ahead.
The findings underline a broader transition in supply chain risk management from reactive disruption management towards continuous visibility, predictive analysis and integrated third-party risk oversight.
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