The updates arrive alongside the company's own sample survey findings, which suggest that just 12% of organisations currently hold data from the majority of their second-tier suppliers. Research from KPMG paints a similar picture, indicating that only 28% of businesses have a clear view into their supply chain's second tier.
Sedex data also highlights a notable gap further upstream, with 15% of supply chain worksites having no measures whatsoever to ensure that their own suppliers or subcontractors meet required labour standards. That finding underscores why improved mapping beyond Tier 1 has become an increasingly urgent priority, particularly as legislation such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive ratchets up compliance expectations.
The platform changes address two connected areas. On the mapping side, a streamlined workflow now allows suppliers to add and label their upstream connections by tier, detailing their networks more quickly and linking them to individual worksites rather than just corporate entities.
Before any data flows to downstream buyers, however, the upstream supplier must confirm the connection, a step designed to maintain accuracy and foster trust between trading partners.
Sedex CEO Jon Hancock said: “Leaders are being asked to make increasingly important sourcing decisions in an environment that is less predictable than ever. That requires more than broad network models and head-office information — it requires data that distinguishes between every individual facility.”
Hancock added that by combining site-level data with richer risk insight, corporate teams can "prioritise resources to target the most significant gaps, risks or impacts across their supply chains."
Buying organisations can use analytics dashboards to drill into specific tiers, surfacing higher-risk suppliers and pinpointing weaknesses in mitigation processes that might otherwise remain invisible. The result, Sedex says, is faster, more targeted action across extended sourcing networks.
Alongside the mapping improvements, Sedex has substantially expanded its risk assessment capabilities. More precise risk scores are now available across 15 topics for the more than 120,000 worksites currently registered on the platform.
The Audit Risk pillar draws on non-compliance patterns identified across more than 250,000 SMETA audits at 115,000 sites in 106 countries, incorporating the latest SMETA 7.0 data.
By surfacing issues reflected in actual audit findings, the tool is intended to reveal risks that broader contextual data alone might miss.
A revamped Wages Risk pillar now integrates wage-related information from over 70,000 site-level SMETA audits with expert external sources. It generates what the company describes as more robust inherent risk calculations for identifying where wages are most likely to fall below legal requirements.
Separately, a new environmental risk assessment feature consolidates environmental data at the worksite level, helping users scope and prioritise due diligence and environmental management activities across their supplier base.
Sedex chief product and technology officer Duncan Ellis said: “The hardest part of supply chain sustainability risk management is knowing where to act first. By combining authoritative global sources with site-level audit data across multiple sourcing tiers, we've built a platform that turns that question into a clear, evidence-based answer.”
The enhancements follow Sedex's recent release of a self-serve interactive tool designed to help companies quickly identify which major supply chain and sustainability regulations may apply to their operations.
