NCC Group plc Annual Report 2021

Stakeholder engagement continued

Suppliers

Our network

We engage with a large number of different suppliers across our global business. Historically, we have had a very local and transactional relationship with suppliers; however, to enhance our competitiveness and remain agile, we are developing more formalised and sustainable relationships with our key suppliers based on both spend level and risk profile. The opportunity • Long-term trusted partnerships facilitating real, sustainable overhead cost reduction and cost of sale margin improvement • Strong working relationships • Fit for purpose contracts and payment terms, ensuring suppliers deliver to acceptable service levels and protecting NCC Group from any long-term commercial inflation • Ensuring we have a safe supply chain to protect our service delivery to customers and brand reputation How we listen and engage • We now have a small professional, dedicated and experienced procurement function which actively manages key suppliers, monitors supply chain trends and supports the business units to achieve their commercial targets • Regular meetings to be held with key suppliers to better inform them of NCC Group’s strategy and future forecasting • Due diligence completed at the beginning of our relationship with suppliers • Intention to host a supplier conference (post-Covid-19) • Supplier “Code of Conduct” launched to provide clarity around NCC Group’s expectations of our supply chain 2020/21 highlights • Delivery of substantial cost savings to support the businesses growth strategy • Significant restructure of NCC Group’s global estate portfolio to support the expected new ways of working, post-Covid-19 • Introduction of risk-based analysis of NCC Group’s supply chain to provide valuable insight supporting the Company though the significant changes due to Brexit and Covid-19 • Proactive communication of the Source to Pay Policy which underpins NCC Group’s relationship with its supply chain • Consistently engaging other business units and corporate functions to recommend, based on experience, internal efficiency improvements to drive clearer planning and spend reporting

NCC Group is committed not only to creating a conducive operating environment to enable our long-term growth ambitions but to using our expertise to inform evidence-based policy making and improving the resilience of our societies. The opportunity • Our expertise, capabilities and global footprint allow us to offer solutions to modern society’s cyber challenges • Educating policymakers and regulators • Providing access to basic cyber knowledge to those organisations that are vital to their local communities • Sharing opportunities to experience the world of cyber and inspiring the next generation How we listen and engage • We work in partnership and build alliances with like-minded and trusted organisations – from global think tanks and foundations, to trade associations, charities and campaign groups – to pool resources, amplify our messages and maximise impact • We support initiatives by governments and public bodies where we have shared objectives, such as the UK government’s CyberFirst skills programme, work with schools and universities to offer mentoring and industry support, and maintain strategic relationships with national technical authorities across all of our regions • We undertake direct engagement and advocacy to share our expertise with regulators, officials and politicians grappling with the challenges of emerging technologies and keeping their citizens safe in an interconnected digital world 2020/21 highlights • Campaigned forcefully for better legal protections for the crucial work of security and threat intelligence researchers around the world, as a founding member of the CyberUp Campaign in the UK that brings together cyber security professionals, technology firms and start-up incubators alike, and has seen the UK government undertake a formal review of the Act, and as a member of the Open Source Security Foundation (OSSF), to press for security research exemptions in the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) • Supported the UK National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) CyberUK flagship conference for the fifth year running and delivered the NCSC Cyber Security PhD Winter School virtually allowing academics, industry and government to connect; offered remote work experience to pupils, students and interested parties from law enforcement; and concluded the first year of partnership with the Small Charities Coalition which helped to build the cyber resilience of up to 12,500 charity employees, trustees, volunteers, beneficiaries and service users • Joined the UK’s Cyber Growth Partnership; became part of the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Secure Connected Places External Advisory Group; educated global financial regulators, from the Financial Stability Board to Canada’s OSFI, on the benefits of technology and software escrow agreements in supporting operational resilience objectives; and worked with the UK Industry & Parliament Trust to continue giving parliamentarians an insight into the day-to-day realities of cyber resilience, and with the Linux Foundation in the United States to educate Congressional staffers on workable policy solutions to high profile technology challenges

Link to strategy:

Link to strategy:

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NCC Group plc — Annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2021

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