Source Intelligence
"The LinkedIn" of Supply Chain

Jess F Kraus, CEO and Co-founder of Source Intelligence is a hard-hitting strategy architect who loves to play chess and has an immense fervor for scuba diving. “I always make multiple advance moves in the game and that is the exact role of a CEO in a company. It’s helped me become a forward-thinking leader,” says Kraus.

Headquartered in the surfer’s paradise of San Diego, CA, Source Intelligence’s cloud-based platform provides supply chain intelligence through transparency. The company offers supplier and 3rd party vendor data collection; risk analytics; and reporting tools for regulatory compliance, sustainability and social responsibility programs. The large bi-directional supplier network creates a perfect eco-system to equip global brands with a supplier management system that ensures legal and ethical sourcing, a trend ignited by shareholder and consumer activism and fueled by high-profile media around conflict-free products, human rights, and fair trade.

Kraus reveals that companies struggle to determine the presence of regulated materials in their supply chain. For example, the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) requires public companies to disclose the use of tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold (3TG’s) or “conflict minerals” sourced from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and surrounding countries. Existing solutions are often not scalable or affordable, especially for products with hundreds of sub-components and thousands of suppliers.

Source Intelligence, offers a “LinkedIn of Supply Chain” solution that combines compliance and sustainability experts with an automated technology platform to aggregate disparate islands of supplier supply chain information into a single, centralized management system. "We're on-boarding up to 5,000 new suppliers a week", noted Kraus.

Built for flexibility Source Intelligence’s platform has proven to scale easily as global brands expand their programs from the “anchor” of conflict minerals to a broader portfolio of sustainability, anti-corruption and chemical management solutions.

"It’s all about consolidating the data, getting the visibility into the supply chain and assessing and managing the risk of a complex web of vendors linked to a global brand”, commented Kraus, “we do this by assessing the compliance, social and sustainability risk of our clients’ operations, facilities, products, and vendors and, then, turning this risk data into measurable action. "

It’s all about consolidating the data, getting the visibility into the supply chain, and assessing and managing the risk of a complex web of vendors linked to a global brand

Recently, Source Intelligence aided a major retailer in the mapping of their supply chain. The company was successful in mapping the customer’s supply chain, achieving conflictmineral compliance and identifying cost inefficiencies.

Kraus further reveals that companies are trying to manage supply chain compliance with a range of local, federal and international regulations and run their business at the same time. The data management platform is built in accordance with the OECD frameworks that meet guidelines for compliance domestically and abroad.

“A people-technology approach is key. Our 24/7, multilingual team provides quality assurance throughout the data collecting process and we investigate any gaps in information. The platform aggregates the data and provides a centralized tool for analysis and data visualization, giving instant visibility into any compliance risk across vendors linked to a global brand, and this makes us completely different in the market,” notes Kraus.

Going forward, the company has expansion plans for operations in Asia and the EU. “Our next big customer milestone is to get one million global suppliers on our platform and we are moving in the right direction. Over 1,200 companies registered for our last educational program on smelter verification with international demand so strong we released a Chinese version. We’ll continue to extend the content of our platform and its applications across the very broad spectrum of compliance programs that relate to the supply chain and 3rd party vendors,” concludes Kraus.