How Can Software Help You Achieve BRC Compliance?
Jennifer Kinion
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is a trade association whose aim is to protect brand and consumers. While it originated in the UK, it is now a global standard, with more than 26,000 certified suppliers across 130 countries. BRC Global Standards are also schemes recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), so for many companies, becoming certified helps support competitiveness, better performance, safer food production, and resource optimization. Yet, maintaining BRC compliance can be challenging. Here, we explore how software can help.
Program Adherence
Software ensures all BRC requirements are being met continuously, with automated task scheduling and workflows saving time and verifying all tasks are being completed. Plus, technology prevents rework caused by missed or late tasks, out-of-date forms and specs, and delays in catching non-conformances.
Supplier Compliance
Supplier management is a challenge to begin with, but ensuring your vendors also comply with your BRC requirements adds even more complexity. Instead of using a paper-based system or spreadsheets, technology can centralize all of your documents and bring automation to vendor management. Features like automated vendor onboarding and partner portals for document exchanges with notifications for out-of-date certificates can streamline your supplier compliance efforts.
Audit Readiness
Audits require an investment of time, but they are required aspects of achieving and maintaining GFSI certifications such as BRC. Manually sorting through and retrieving documents to prepare for audits is labor- and time-intensive, but beyond that, paper-based systems are more error-prone than today’s cloud solutions. With automated systems, every form, task, spec, NCR/CAPA, and virtually all other data is time- and date-stamped, and then becomes a permanent record in an easily accessible centralized repository. This makes audit preparedness much easier for your teams to manage, while improving visibility and accuracy. Thus, not only will you be prepared for scheduled audits, but your teams will also be ready 24/7 for unannounced inspections as well.
