We live in a different world today. Disruption is inevitable, the threats we face are severe, and change is no longer the exception but the rule. Tomorrow’s success rides on what you do today. Start by embracing this new normal and setting your sights on antifragility.
No longer do you have the luxury of waiting for change to manifest before determining how best to navigate through it. Gone are the days of simply being intent on staying afloat while rolling with the tides. The world moves too quickly for reactive approaches and ambiguous strategies. Even resiliency isn’t enough anymore.
At Bristlecone, our goal is to help you reach a point where you can sense change, anticipate downturns and adapt with ease. We build supply chains that are shock-proof against natural disasters, terrorism, legislative changes, geopolitical challenges, shifting consumer trends and material shortages. And we’ll position you to rapidly capitalize on disruptions and create value and positive customer experience – even in the face of adversity.
Antifragility doesn’t happen overnight. It isn’t an event or a project. It’s a path, a journey, a movement along a continuum, a conscious, continuous effort to increase operational effectiveness. Our expertise lies in helping businesses reach the point of antifragility by progressing, one step at a time, along the antifragility spectrum.
The antifragility spectrum consists of five maturity stages: Fragile, Reactive, Robust, Resilient, Antifragile.
Bristlecone clients all have different starting lines in their antifragility journeys, and they rarely begin at either end of the antifragility spectrum. They’re not typically as fragile as those defined on one end of the spectrum, but they’re also not closing in on the opposite end, where true antifragility lives. (That’s why they need us.)
Fragile companies have not invested in foundational capabilities like process, technology and analytics, and therefore are unable to realize the benefits of collaboration and business agility. Disruptions and operational uncertainties jeopardize value creation – and they can cripple the most fragile.
Reactive companies have made some foundational investments but lack the capability to scale. Their collaboration and business agility capabilities are weak, with business functions operating in silos. Disruptions and operational uncertainties often result in significant loss of value.
Robust companies have a degree of agility in their operations, yet there is low visibility into external risks since supplier and customer collaboration has not evolved beyond a transactional level. These companies are able to withstand negative disruptions to a large extent but may fail to benefit from positive disruptions rapidly.
Before we embark on an antifragility journey, we measure your current state of antifragility. Our Antifragility Index views antifragility through a variety of different lenses – spanning five maturity stages and eight pillars.
Leverages two decades of hands-on supply chain expertise crystallized into one diagnostic.
Evaluates end-to-end operational readiness, vulnerabilities and competitive differentiators.
Addresses industry-specific aspects of supply chain management across all eight pillars.
Blends the measured progress of each pillar with operational maturity metrics.
Utilizes proprietary metrics hierarchy, benchmarking database, analytical toolkits, etc.
Creates common jargon to map all initiatives to antifragility, resulting in a clear roadmap.
PILLARS OF ASSESSMENT
Enterprise
Strategic orientation with focus on customer centricity, talent development and innovative culture.
Process
Supply chain architecture interconnected across sub-functions, geographies, silos, partners, etc.
Analytics
Transition from descriptive analytics to big data and real-time cognitive analytics.
Social Responsibility
Comprehensive and fully integrated sustainability, diversity and ethics programs.
Risk
Advanced risk monitoring and mitigation program aimed at protecting the entire value network.
Collaboration
Comprehensive and effective ecosystem comprising all internal and external stakeholders.
Agility
Capacity to leverage speed and flexibility to take advantage of market opportunities.
Technology
People and technology investments that drive end-to-end supply chain digital transformation.