Challenge
Our client was a global corporation with a diverse and complex supply chain, and it recognized the increasing importance of robust third-party risk governance. Stakeholders, regulators, and customers were placing greater scrutiny on areas such as:
- Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices across the supplier base.
- Modern slavery and human rights compliance within the supply chain.
- Social procurement and business integrity, alongside privacy and data security obligations.
While policies and controls were in place, there was uncertainty around how consistently due diligence requirements were being applied, and whether they met evolving best practice and compliance obligations. To address this, the client connected to review current state practices, identify gaps, and recommend a roadmap to strengthen supply chain risk management and ESG governance.
Approach
A comprehensive current state assessment was conducted to evaluate the client’s existing approach to third-party risk governance.
This involved:
- Document and policy review – Desktop analysis of key documents to understand existing due diligence requirements.
- Stakeholder engagement – Interviews with internal stakeholders to capture perspectives, pain points, and gaps in implementation.
- Compliance review – Assessment of the client’s obligations concerning due diligence, ESG, and regulatory requirements.
- Benchmarking against good practice – Identification of best practices and standards relevant to the client’s sector and operating model.
Following the assessment, a gap analysis was performed that pinpointed weaknesses in current processes and provided a prioritized set of recommendations for improvement.
Results
The recommendations created a clear roadmap for strengthening third-party risk governance, including:
- Developing a due diligence strategy and framework – Establishing a structured approach to monitoring and managing supply chain risk.
- Adoption of supply chain risk management technology – To enable ongoing monitoring, reporting, and risk mitigation at scale.
- Change management and implementation support – Ensuring the framework could be effectively adopted across the organization.
- Updating procurement documents and processes – Embedding ESG priorities and due diligence requirements into supplier engagements.
- Reporting framework – Introducing new due diligence and ESG reporting mechanisms to enhance visibility and accountability.
The engagement provided the client with a comprehensive and actionable strategy to transform supply chain risk governance. Using these recommendations, the client is now positioned to:
- Strengthen compliance with modern slavery, ESG, and data security obligations.
- Improve supplier accountability and transparency through embedded reporting.
- Enhance resilience and integrity across its global supply chain.
- Build trust with stakeholders by demonstrating proactive risk management.
By combining rigorous assessment with practical solutions, the client was enabled to elevate its procurement and supply chain governance to meet both current regulatory requirements and future ESG expectations.
This project was delivered by Proxima’s APAC team, under the former brand name, ArcBlue.
