“High Tech Companies Weigh Merit of Conflict Minerals Reporting Automation”, 6 January 2015

As we mark the beginning of the third compliance period…of the SEC provision known as the “Conflict Minerals Rule,” reporting companies are still weighing their options for how best to achieve compliance…Under the Rule, if conflict minerals — tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold — are necessary to the functionality or production of products manufactured or contracted to be manufactured by an SEC reporting company, the company must take steps to determine and make specified disclosures…The intent of the Rule is to reduce…funding for armed groups that are committing human rights abuses and contributing to the conflict in the eastern DRC…For organizations with a…complex web of supply chain partners, automation tools are becoming an increasingly viable option. According to a…study…, companies spent on average approximately $545,000…to comply. This makes cloud supply chain risk management solutions from companies like Resilinc...compelling...