Service leverages ISG GovernX® platform to help enterprises map and monitor supply chains
With legislation prohibiting modern slavery in place in six countries and the state of California—and expected in additional countries soon—Information Services Group, a leading global technology research and advisory firm, announced the launch of a dedicated advisory and risk management service to help enterprises ensure their businesses and supply chains are in compliance with such laws.
“Every enterprise has a legal and ethical obligation to ensure its supply chain does not contribute to human exploitation.”
The new ISG offering combines advisory services with the automated capabilities of ISG GovernX®, the industry’s only governance solution that integrates contract information, strategic relationship management and real-time risk monitoring to help clients manage their supplier ecosystems.
ISG advisors will help clients develop a modern slavery framework, review and update policies across the enterprise, conduct training, map their entire supply chain, and add modern slavery clauses to contract templates, while the ISG GovernX platform will provide thorough, timely reporting through its automatic alert feature.
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“The United Nations and international labor organizations estimate that more than 40 million people worldwide are subject to modern slavery, including forced labor, debt bondage, forced marriage, slavery and slavery-like practices and human trafficking. The probability of finding slavery deep in enterprise supplier tiers could be as high as 70 percent,” said Hanne McBlain, senior director and head of ISG’s global efforts to comply with legislation and anti-slavery efforts. “Every enterprise has a legal and ethical obligation to ensure its supply chain does not contribute to human exploitation.”
Supplier management that is thorough enough to ensure modern slavery compliance cannot be done without technology, McBlain said, noting many organizations have thousands or even tens of thousands of suppliers—far too many to contemplate mapping and monitoring by hand.
“Supplier management and reporting are at the heart of all modern slavery legislation,” McBlain said. “Each law requires businesses to annually report on how they audit their suppliers for slavery risks, as well as the specific policies, procedures and training they have put in place to verify the integrity of their supply chains. The latest legislation mandates financial penalties for organizations that fail to comply.”
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ISG GovernX automatically sends assessments to each supplier requiring them to provide information on their modern slavery framework, reporting, policies and training, and monitors external data feeds for all potential risks within the specific supplier ecosystem and the broader marketplace. Users can add a variety of external intelligent workflows to identify and categorize each risk, alert the appropriate functions, and trigger automated responses, including targeted risk assessments to the suppliers involved.
ISG has been addressing modern slavery legislation since 2018, when it first drew legislative focus. The firm has created and implemented a global framework to ensure ISG itself is not linked to modern slavery risks and has developed an in-depth knowledge of the legislation and associated requirements while working to meet obligations in Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the U.K. and California, along with pending legislation in Canada and elsewhere.
Additional information on ISG third-party risk management is available on the ISG website, and further insights on modern slavery are available by viewing the recent ISG Smartalks™ webinar, “Modern Slavery Legislation in Australia.”
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