3 Sept 2024 - What the supply chain crisis taught us, and how to prepare for the next (ITpro.com)
- Sep 1, 2024
- 1 min read
What the supply chain crisis taught us – and how businesses can prepare for the next one
Businesses should expect the unexpected, think beyond natural cycles, and forecast supply-chain challenges
By Fleur Doidge
Published September 2, 2024In Features
With fresh constraints on the near to medium horizon on aspects of the supply chain from shipping to materials sourcing, the IT industry stands reminded of its vulnerability to global shocks.
In recent years this has been especially apparent, with the lack of diversity in component suppliers and design alternatives laid bare amid the pandemic and wider economic downturns.
Fred Lherault, field CTO, EMEA, at vendor Pure Storage, agrees. Even as Covid shrank in the rear-view mirror, GPU and wider supply constraints are emerging in the wake of massive AI/ML adoption - and that's on top of continued skills shortages and potential IT supply chain challenges around networking power and data transfer needs.
Alternative component options should become common to simplify the engineering side of the supply chain and reduce susceptibility to availability challenges, Lherault says. "We've built flexibility into our supply chain," he adds, noting that typically, however, people don't plan for something unpredictable to happen....
