Secured Supply Chain Network

All of the discussion surrounding Internet of Things connectivity and collaboration and opening the supply chain network in more ways to additional partners and networked technology and tools is exciting for three key groups; the supply chain partners, the consumer and hackers.  The big question generated by these new tools and technology is how do you develop and maintain an open network such as this and still protect the interest of all participants. This is huge task for the security organizations and I’m sure keeps them up at night worrying. These networks open to external access from partners are under constant attack now and the IoT tools and technology opens a new frontier in network security that must also be taken into account.  Network advances and capabilities must now take into account the security demands and risks as at least as important to the supply chain as the expanded capabilities, maybe even more because of the potential impact of a breach.

The security of this network is no small task especially since more and more news is coming out regarding network attacks and network breaches, and this is just what you hear about, there is also a great deal of attacks that you never hear about.  Then add to this level of risk a huge variety of devices that attach to the network under the umbrella of IoT. These new connectivity requirements increase the risk geometrically because of the access to the network provided by these devices along with the unknown risk of the level of security developed within the connected device to protect from hacking attacks.  The simple reality of these connected devices is that many of them simply provide open access, assuming that the network to which they are attached is either secured or takes into account the open nature of the connected devices and segregates them to to secured network node. Either way, the security of the network always falls to the owner of the network and these connection and vulnerability opportunities must continuously be reviewed and addressed.

Security is another continuous support activity that must be taken into account and planned for the protection of the network and most importantly business and consumer information assets.  There are continuous probes for weakness against the network that must be taken into account and these probes lead to assaults on the network. As the network becomes more open from activity such as consumer and supply chain partner collaboration, eCommerce (B2B and B2C), IoT devices and the blockchain the volume and types of risks and vulnerabilities also increases and builds on each other.  These must all be taken into account with a network security strategy and this strategy must be continuously be reviewed in order to identify and plan for new risks and vulnerabilities.

The point is that you cannot block all network access from the outside to secure the network and nor should you want to because this only brings a false sense of security that leaves you open to attacks, even if you wanted to your network would still be open to vulnerabilities from email attacks.  The point is that you must understand the risk and embrace the tools and practices to protect you from the vulnerabilities and attacks that these tools bring.

Retail Collaboration Business Impact

The retail collaboration practices require the retailers and the participants in the collaboration network incorporate enhanced social networking capabilities and social network technologies to support the demands of the marketplace.  While this technology opens the retail collaboration network to increased flexibility and capabilities to allow participants to connect and interact more fluidly and easily, it also opens the network to all of the troubling aspects of the social networking from unwanted participants as well.  This requires the retailer ot also implement networking monitoring and management practices to protect the innocent participants in the collaboration network from the predatory participants. Predatory participants in the collaboration network will quickly cause this network to lose participants if unchecked for too long.

These monitoring and management tools and techniques are a new cost of doing business and must be taken into account and planned as part of the collaboration network base requirements.  The business impact along with the potential legal consequences will quickly shut down the network causing a great deal of reputation and financial harm to the participants. There are too many unintended consequences involved in the collaboration network for the retailer to go into the relationship lightly.  The retailer and other business participants have a great deal at stake if the network is compromised through a data breach and these participants must take measures to secure these assets while still promoting the collaboration. These business participants are in a somewhat of a difficult position; they must protect their business assets, including customer personal information, from these hacking activities while also providing the open networking framework to support the collaboration demands.  

Personal information is probably the most valuable, and most must be the most protected asset that an company dealing with the public owns and the theft of these assets can dramatically impact the business form both a cost and reputational perspective.  This focus on protection requires a continuous and also perfect approach to the protection of their customer personal information. These measures are already part of the base business requirements for retailers so the importance is not new, however the risk is dramatically increased because of the additional social network activities.  This increased risk must be taken into account for the planning, implementation and ongoing maintenance of the collaboration network and the maintenance must be especially focused and robust in order to meet the challenges of a robust and continuously changing social network.

The business participants in these collaborative networks must enter into this arrangement with their eyes wide open to understand the importance and also the risk of attack from hackers and as a result must increase their focus and support efforts to overcome the risk.  This must be a key focus of all business participants and requires a focused and continuous effort as well to first protect and second maintain the protection. There are no options and the business participants must always maintain vigilance. Luckily the participants have an opportunity to partner and collaborate on the maintenance of security of the collaborative network.

Retail Collaboration Focus

Every activity, program or initiative requires a focus and the retail collaboration program is no different.  Retailer have been collaborating with their partners for a very long time in a rather one sided collaboration where retailers retained the ultimate control of the collaborative partnership.  Now though the circumstances are different and if anyone in the collaborative network is in control it is the consumer and retailers must shift their focus to a more outward and flexible focus on developing opportunities with and encouraging the interest of consumers.  The collaborative focus has shifted to one supporting the retailer needs to one supporting the consumer needs. This is a simple and yet a very dramatic shift in focus and will be difficult for many retailers to accept and let alone embrace.

This shift in focus will be very difficult for many retailers and especially the large legacy retailers because they will be forced to give up control in their space.  This will require a change in culture and the practices for these retailers to shift their focus from one of controlling their shopping and purchasing practices to one of shared ownership and taking guidance from not only consumers but also from the other participants in the marketplace.  This means that retailers must shift their focus from one leading the offerings and capabilities based on the greatest benefit and best cost structure for their operations to one of flexibility and sharing support of capabilities.

This shift in focus will help the retailer to shift their focus from one of defining and developing capabilities to an open collaborative environment where all partners, including consumers take part in the development and implementation of new capabilities.  This shift to focus on flexibility will allow the retailer to fully engage in the omni marketplace through shared services and capabilities. It is not necessary for any one partner to develop capabilities to support all marketplace requirements, the collaborative practices will allow all participants in the marketplace to share services to offer best of breed capabilities.  The direction and demands of the consumer to develop a social shopping marketplace that is made up of a wide range of collaborative partners to offer services to support the consumer demands and ensure the success of all participants.

All participants in this social and collaborative marketplace will soon find that the sum of the partners, and especially their partners capabilities and specialties will make for a more robust marketplace that can quickly adapt and delivery new capabilities to support consumer demands.  This new capabilities will be put together from a combination of small and iterative changes combined in a flexible distributed platform that grow and flexes with the changing demands of the market. The collaborative retail marketplace will allow retailers, and all participants in the market, to both choose from and by the same token add to a catalog of services and capabilities that can be brought together based not on the limitations of any one partner but based on the collaborative network made possible by the change in collaborative focus.