Manufacturing.net this week points out some interesting research that indicates a rising number of companies are going to be investing more in SCRM processes over the next year. According to an AMR Research report this month, "Managing Risk in the Supply Chain - A Quantitative Study," 46 percent of firms surveyed plan to implement or evaluate SCRM technology in the next 12 to 24 months, and 54 percent plan to increase their SCRM budgets over the next 12 months.

But a survey from October 2005 conducted by the Advertising Council revealed that although 92 percent of small company respondents said it was very important or somewhat important for businesses at that time to take steps to prepare for a catastrophic disaster, only 39 percent said their company actually had a plan in place.

Manufacturing.net quotes Diana McClure, vice president and Director of Business Protection at the nonprofit Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS):

Sometimes these business owners are scared off by the prospect of putting a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) in place; they don't know where to start or they don't have enough personnel to have a full-time emergency manager. So they do nothing at all, which is not good business practice.

So, for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), it sounds like adding the cost of SCRM to supply chain procedures just isn't happening. Sure, there are all sorts of holistic steps one can take, and sure, everyone recommends that computer files be backed up — but is this enough protection? Is it really accomplishing anything?

Probably not, and that's why McClure offers other suggestions for emergency planning: keeping a list of every employee, vendor and supplier with alternative ways to contact them; looking for other locations where critical business functions can be performed; and making sure that someone will contact VIP customers to notify them of delayed shipments.

Top-tier consultants like Deloitte play in the SCRM space and not surprisingly, they offer all sorts of fancy-schmancy databases that need to be monitored to "offer essential information to continuously evaluate and improve SCRM strategy and actions." Again, what if you simply don't have the funds to rub elbows with the likes of Deloitte?

A few years ago, a Harvard Business write-up about SCRM outlined some interesting SCRM best-practice tips that don't sound too expensive. Here is one of the more valuable ones that urges supply chain managers to not be led astray by only large-scale disasters, a recommendation that remains very relevant today:

"Managers will often consider the giant risk but ignore the smaller risks that create friction in the supply chain," says M. Eric Johnson, director of the Center for Digital Strategies at Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business in Hanover, N.H. "They'll look at savings in the Third World, say, but maybe not the cumulative cost of deliveries that are frequently late only by a week or so." What's the harm? Small disruptions can cause a big hurt if they result in a temporary stock-out and a frustrated customer.

Another thing to consider is the false notion that technology is the only solution to deploying a sound SCRM strategy. Obviously, as with most things business, technology is the silver bullet. According to Mark J. Colombo, vice president of strategic marketing for FedEx:

Technology can help you cope with this complexity, but the high hopes some companies placed in supply chain management software have been dashed, resulting in near-total write-offs. Mark J. Colombo attributes these failures not to the technology per se, but to a "lack of recognition of the degree to which [IT implementation] requires process change, cultural change, and brute-force effort."

Does your firm have the wherewithal to implement a robust SCRM strategy? If not, do you feel that your company is flirting with disaster by not exploring and investing in SCRM measures?