Over the last 12-18 months, global supply chain shortages have been a challenge for most industries—creating a ripple effect that is not only due to product availability but also staffing shortages, shipping container shortages, and labor shortages within the shipping industry. This in turn has decreased the service and reliability of what were traditionally reliable freight carriers.

Ultimately, these shortages are affecting business’ ability worldwide to supply goods, meet fluctuating demand in a predictable way, and provide such goods within the standard (and expected) requirements of cost, time and quality.

So, what are the underlying factors that may be causing all these disruptions within the supply chain?

Experts agree that the four factors with the greatest risk to the supply chain are environmental (such as natural disasters, extreme weather, and pandemics), geopolitical (including conflicts and trade restrictions), economic (price volatility due to sudden political or economic change), and technological (including information system failure).

While some of these factors can be controlled to an extent—such as governments working in tandem with one another—it’s clear that assuming control of these types of events, not to mention their cumulative impacts on the supply chain, is no easy feat.

So how might all this affect the future where Scale Logic and the channel are concerned? Planning for a refresh of any workflow can be a time-consuming process and requires careful consideration. A large part of this is working with the availability and pricing of the key hardware needed to expand, improve or even replace aspects of the data center.

That said, we are proactively taking measures to address these very challenging supply chain issues, including:

• Procuring inventory as it becomes available
• Increasing our inventory beyond normal levels
• Demonstrating flexibility by diversifying vendors and manufacturers
• Communicating with our partners regarding possible alternatives, when feasible

Above all else, Scale Logic remains committed to honesty and openness with our channel and staying as up-to-date as possible with our vendors. Our priority is to keep rising above some of the supply chain challenges mentioned above, and to stay ahead of these rather challenging times—all with the goal of continuing to meet customer expectations.

We encourage planning and communication with your primary sources for components and hardware related to your data center. By thinking now about what you might need later—for example, in terms of capacity, data center expansion, or a new refresh path—you can get ahead of the curve and place your orders with plenty of lead time.