Descartes Systems Group has created a pair of cloud-based services to help air freight forwarders comply with U.S. and European security filing requirements.

Initiatives such as the Global Supply Chain Forum, which resides at Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business, give the business world access to academic expertise and valuable research, says forum director Douglas M. Lambert. Such efforts are becoming more common, he says, adding that "the business community ought to be our laboratory."

Although the Food Safety and Modernization Act of 2010 was passed nearly a year ago, and food and beverage companies have had a significant period of time to calculate and understand its impact, and implement traceability solutions, there are still many issues and processes to be resolved or implemented before food and beverage enterprises can be considered 100-percent compliant.

The Open Group has issued a "preview" of its new standard for promoting best practices in the area of supply-chain security. The Open Trusted Technology Provider Standard (O-TTPS) Snapshot, developed by The Open Group Trusted Technology Forum (OTTF), was designed for use by global providers and users of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products for information and communication technology (ICT).

ImpactFactor recently completed a study on supply-chain risk, surveying managers of more than 100 companies. The results were not encouraging. According to managing director Bill McBeath, many companies don't consider proactive risk-management to be a strategic tool. He was "shocked" at how level their level of investment in that area was, with half reporting expenditures of $50,000 or less to audit and assess suppliers. "Not a single one spent more than $3m," he says. "Given the huge potential impact [of risk] on their shares, we believe companies are seriously under-investing."