Cisco Case Study

Case Study: Cisco Addresses Supply Chain Risk Management

Dan Miklovic, Roberta J. Witty

This Case Study documents a presentation made at Gartner's Security and Risk Management Summit conference in 2010 on how Cisco manages the risks associated with supply chain disruptions. Gartner assesses Cisco's supply chain resiliency program as one of the better-executed programs we have seen, and recommends other clients study it to understand how they might "derisk" their own supply chains.

Key Findings A product-centric approach provides more business value than an incident-centric approach to risk assessment for most businesses. Transparency is critical to both internal and external support for supply chain resiliency. Objective metrics contribute to transparency. As with any significant business endeavor, senior management support is critical to success. When senior managers care, everyone cares.

Recommendations Tailor your resiliency challenge to your organization. Make business continuity planning (BCP) an essential foundation. Pick your approach, and stay the course. Incorporate resiliency in the supply chain design rather than focusing on post-disaster recovery.

Publication Date: 17 September 2010/ID Number: G00206060 Page 2 of 12

© 2010 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Supply chain risk management (SCRM) is a critical discipline within business continuity

management (BCM) that many companies, particularly manufacturing firms, fail to perform well.

This Case Study (which Cisco presented at Gartner's Security and Risk Management Summit

conference in June 2010; see Note 1) highlights the tools, policies and practices that Cisco has

implemented to support its SCRM process. Gartner believes it is these investments that make

Cisco's SCRM system among the most evolved in the field.

CASE STUDY

Introduction

Cisco, the global information and communication technology provider, has put in place a supply

chain...