Actions to Ensure Resource Availability and Minimize Supply Chain Risk

Geopolitical conflicts, natural disasters, and increasingly scarce resources can significantly disrupt supply chains. These risks can lead to delays, higher costs, and potential loss of revenue due to interruptions in the supply of essential materials. Although practically no bottlenecks are being experienced at present, United   Internet is taking precautions so as to safeguard business continuity and mitigate financial risks from such bottlenecks. In addition to circular economy approaches such as the refurbishment of IT hardware, United   Internet’s Purchasing function is adopting a strategy based on diversification and modified warehousing and ordering processes.

• It is switching from a single vendor strategy to a multivendor strategy so as to reduce its dependence on individual suppliers.


• In some cases, suppliers have been replaced or procurement volumes distributed across multiple partners so as to enhance supply chain diversification and minimize the risks of supply outages or longer delivery times.


• Inventories were increased at times in some areas and orders were placed substantially earlier in some cases on the initiative of the department concerned or Logistics, so as to increase the availability of the telecommunications technology and the components used for its installation.


• United   Internet is increasingly using German or European providers, such as when purchasing fiber-optic cables and the conduits needed for installing them; these are also manufactured in Europe in almost all cases.