Building trust in modern global supply chains

Supply chains rely on trust. Traditionally measured on cost and quality of service, recent events and enterprise digitization have created additional pressures, including resilience, adaptability, and sustainability in supply chain management. The crucial factor, though, is how trust is earned: by ensuring all parts of the supply chain process are rapid, secure, and trustworthy.

When it comes to international business, Amdocs’ success in managing its worldwide supply chain demonstrates how critical trust is.

Amdocs develops and provides specialist software to the telecommunications industry, enabling their customers to use cloud computing, deploy 5G, and automate their business operations. Listed on NASDAQ, they employ around 30,000 people around the world and work with a wide range of suppliers.

The company has built a trusted global supply chain, with digital payments at the core of its supplier relationships. Here’s a summary of the insights their approach to building trust in the supply chain offers.

The value of trust

While payment for products and services is undoubtedly a foundation of the supply chain, strong partnerships are built on much more than financial transactions.

Eli Sofer, Head of Corporate Finance at Amdocs, emphasizes that supply chains rely on authenticity and transparency, which are especially important during challenging times. He adds, “We have to be transparent and able to collaborate with them, particularly when either the supplier or purchaser faces difficulties.”

Typically, building trust is a long-term and painstaking process. Once established, it’s an asset, but if compromised, the consequences can be severe and far-reaching.

Nithai Barzam, President & COO of B2B payment security provider nsKnox, points out that while capital management solutions improve the transparency of the supply chain, new cybersecurity threats can put that trust at risk. “There are fraud vectors that can disturb the balance of a supply chain relationship, such as false invoicing and payment fraud, including social engineering and data manipulation,” he explains. “These are designed to divert payments to fraudulent accounts, leading to a complete breakdown in trust.”

To mitigate these risks and manipulations, nsKnox provides a robust, fraud-proof, and scalable solution for account validation and overall B2B payment fraud prevention. Their platform secures the entire process of sending and receiving funds and protects the master vendor file from unauthorized changes, shielding organizations like Amdocs and their suppliers from a wide range of threats, including social engineering, cyber-attacks, data manipulation, manual errors, and malicious employees.

Technology solutions to technology problems

To enhance the security of its supplier payments, and in partnership with Taulia and nsKnox, Amdocs is implementing these advanced fraud prevention solutions to safeguard its financial operations. But as fraudsters become increasingly sophisticated, Sofer is aware that finance teams will face even greater challenges, necessitating additional security measures. And while accounts payable teams are trained to identify suspicious emails, he admits that criminals remain a step ahead, becoming more adept at disguising their tactics.

The rise of artificial intelligence adds yet another layer of complexity, making fraudulent attempts even harder to detect and putting additional pressure on these teams. While technology plays a crucial role, Soffer emphasizes that there’s more to supply chain management best practices.

“When I led the adoption of Taulia at Amdocs, I didn’t see it as merely the next operational process. Instead, I branded it as a collaboration platform,” he explains. “The suppliers on the Taulia platform are our partners, and we’re opening a window that allows them to see and collaborate with us better.”

Soffer further notes that this approach enhances the value of partnerships through improved trust, stressing the importance of communication in implementing new finance processes and best practices.

“It’s crucial to communicate the reasons behind your validation processes, not just to suppliers, but also to procurement teams so they don’t have problems or oppose it in the future.”

Processes paving the way to supply chain trust

While effective communication sets the foundation for trust in supply chain relationships, it’s the combination of secure processes and smart use of technology that cements it. These elements don’t just work in siloed tandem, but together to create a payment ecosystem that’s both reliable and efficient.

According to Sofer, securing payments is about technology platforms working hand in hand with good practices. “Good processes rely on the right data, which is why my team and I have focused on ensuring all details are right before the payment is made, which protects both Amdocs and our suppliers.”

Still, creating the right processes isn’t just about the technology – it’s also about building new habits, like changing the way we lock the front door when leaving home. Regarding this, nsKnox maintains that finance teams need to develop similar routines for employing two-factor authentication and payment protection tech, which provides the necessary business balance of efficiency and security.

When it comes to supplier onboarding, Sofer sees this as a key moment to build trust from the start. Strong due diligence and asking the right security questions upfront go a long way. While standardized methods are great, especially for global businesses, platforms like Taulia give finance teams the flexibility to adapt to local regulations. It’s about finding that balance between consistency and local know-how.

Ultimately, well-designed platforms and processes can significantly reduce the risks faced by finance teams – not only streamlining operations but also playing a crucial role in building and maintaining trust with suppliers throughout the supply chain.

Key takeaways: How to build supply chain trust

There are many elements involved in building supply chain trust, but these are the key things to remember as you build a better strategy:

• Be authentic and transparent with suppliers
• Trust is hard won and expensive to rebuild if lost
• Payment platforms are an opportunity for buyers and suppliers to collaborate
• Secured digital payments platform increases efficiency
• Use payment protection solutions to validate supplier details and protect the partnership
• Fraud impacts buyers and sellers beyond just the monetary loss

For more information on how Taulia worked with Amdocs to build and maintain trust throughout their supply chain, including more insights from industry leaders, watch the full webinar.