Manage controls, processes and interactions with vendors to ensure consistency and compliance with security requirements and to increase the efficiency of business interactions.

Business Need

Vendors now play a major role in the daily activities of many corporations. Within a number of organizations, vendors have the same access to sensitive information as employees. In the case of outsourcing, for example, vendors often manage regulated information and own many critical functions from end to end.

Companies that effectively manage their vendor relationships experience a variety of benefits, most notably compliance with Federal regulations that require a robust vendor management process. Federal laws such as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act mandate that corporate control activities extend to vendors, including consultants, contractors and outsource providers. Some of the largest penalties and reputational concerns of our decade have involved relationships with vendors that have inadequate controls and processes in place. An effective and consistent vendor management process can ensure regulatory compliance and lower reputational risk while bringing tangible business value to any organization with vendor relationships.

Archer's Solution

The Archer Vendor Management solution enables organizations to consolidate disparate vendor information, such as vendor profiles, associated projects and data accessed by vendors, into a single, robust application. This comprehensive solution facilitates four key activities as part of an effective vendor management process: risk assessment, risk-based vendor selection, contract reviews and ongoing monitoring. Leveraging the Vendor Management solution, organizations can achieve lower cost, higher quality and lower risk in their vendor relationships through the application of risk-appropriate controls, clear reporting of expectations and vendor performance, and a consistent and repeatable assessment process.

Key Features and Benefits

Data Centralization

Aggregate all vendor information into a single interface, including vendor profiles, projects, relationship managers and vendor contacts.

Provide an enterprise view of corporate vendor documentation, services and utilization.

Aggregate all confidentiality agreements, service-level agreements, contracts and other relationship documents.

Improve productivity through ease of data collection and retrieval.

Ensure that all data is accessible to appropriate staff members through the use of role and group-based access control.

Risk Assessment

Assess vendor risk based on services, facilities and internal practices in addition to involvement in corporate projects, processes and initiatives.

Evaluate vendors using multiple assessment types, including automated self assessments, onsite visits or other assessments used as part of an existing vendor management program.

Assign action items for each vendor, track their completion, and calculate risk before and after these activities are performed.

Relationship Management

Enable vendor relationship managers to minimize and manage the risks associated with vendor relationships by tracking performance and the status of deliverables.

Establish key performance indicators for each vendor relationship, provide feedback, and document meetings and activities associated with the relationship.

Increase standardization and implement best practices across business lines.

Ensure that vendor agreements are appropriately reviewed and managed with time-based triggers and automated notifications.

Mitigate risk with an exit strategy for each relationship.

Vendor Site:- Archer Technologies