Heads up: A new report from a corporate insurance company says risk is on the rise – and businesses need to proceed extra carefully in this environment. Part of your job is dealing with risk every day – figuring out what risks to take and which you’d be better off avoiding. And of course, you know the task at hand can harbor hidden degrees of risk you couldn’t anticipate.

Supply chain pros now say they fear risk management and disaster planning have in many cases taken a backseat to cost-cutting and service priorities – and now the impact of this back-and-forth struggle is beginning to be felt.

Here are some of the shocking stats:

• 31% of supply chain risk managers surveyed don’t have cross-functional teams to manage risk
• 65% admitted they have no risk management program at all
• 73% said supply chain risk has increased since 2005, and
• 35% called their risk management practices “moderately effective.”

So what’ll keep your company from skating on thin ice?

Procurement pros recommend training ALL your staffers on risk management. If everyone understands what’s going on, they’ll be better equipped to participate.

Look ahead. Plans for disaster should be more forward-thinking than reactionary.

Make sure not to wait. This survey also indicated that most managers don’t make the move to adopt risk plans until after they’ve already experienced a major loss.

Tags: hiring, procurement, risk management