Supply chains disrupted three out of every four businesses, according to a new report commissioned by Zurich.

Conducted by the Business Continuity Institute, the survey of more than 500 companies in 71 countries found 75 per cent complained of a lack of visibility within their supply system.

Just under a third (30 per cent) did not know how much their logistics operator prioritised their business, compared to only 12 per cent that did.

The biggest impact of this, according to 55 per cent of respondents, is reduced productivity, followed by customer complaints (41 per cent) and additional costs (33 per cent). An annual loss of €1 million (£841,000) was stated by 15 per cent while another nine per cent had experience of losing this amount at some stage.

Global supply chain product manager for the firm Nick Wildgoose said: "It is clear from the results of the latest study that supply chain disruptions continue to have a significant impact on business performance."

Zurich said the largest causes of disruption were unexpected IT or telecommunication outages (55 per cent), severe weather (41 per cent) and service failure with the outsourcing company (37 per cent).