CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misidentified the new application as platform. The first bullet has been updated accordingly.
Dive Brief:
- Ethics and compliance software provider Convercent just added the Convercent Third Party application to its Ethics Cloud Platform, according to a company press release.
- The platform offers customized quarterly questionnaires to accurately assess third-party risk level, approves new third parties while identifying opportunities for improving the overall management process, and ensures that third parties remain in line with company code of conduct through regular self-service assessment.
- Issues including conflicts of interest are factored into risk analysis. Transparency is enhanced and silos are eliminated through analysis of sanctions, watch lists, and do not trade warnings.
Dive Insight:
Transparency is a necessity for a successful and ethical supply chain.
Technology enhancements are the latest means of ensuring transparency, and have become increasingly available in Cloud-based formats. While previously software solutions lagged in advancement of transparency, efforts to go above and beyond are increasing, and could be useful to forward-thinking companies such as The Gap, which continually seeks to clarify vendor guideline ethics, and has done so for over 20 years.
Increasingly, platform developers see the issue of transparency as one of reputation and association. "It’s critical global companies extend their ethics and values beyond their own four walls, especially when they're partnering with thousands of third parties all over the world," Philip Winterburn, Convercent's Chief Product Officer told Supply Chain Dive.
What gets overlooked is often held against the manufacturer, which interrupts sales and darkens reputations. "Until now, though, most global enterprises struggled to monitor the ethical health of their entire supply chain due to siloed data and disconnected systems," Winterburn said. A tighter grasp on suppliers' actions could help companies better filter their third party choices.