University of Kentucky: 50% Increase in Staff Efficiency and Vendor Onboarding Time Reduced

University of Kentucky: 50% Increase in Staff Efficiency and Vendor Onboarding Time Reduced

High-volume supplier and payee management that relies on manual processes can really throw a wrench into your vendor onboarding workflow. 

This was the problem that the University of Kentucky (UK) faced before approaching PaymentWorks. 

If you want to find out what they did about it, keep reading.

Our case study answers all of these questions and more. Click here to read it.

Read the Case Study

Higher education is unique in that institutions tend to be decentralized. Teams, departments, and campuses create siloed information and workflows – and operations can be a labyrinth of disjointed processes, channels, and solutions. 

As a result, the possibility for fraud to creep in is higher. Additionally, compliance can be a real headache. Vendor onboarding workflows that rely on manual processes make vendor risk mitigation extremely hard. 

But that’s just the start. Manual processes take their toll on everyone. First, think about the sheer volume of email and phone queries the vendor desk has to make. Then, there’s W9 creation. And don’t forget about proprietary checks like TIN, address verification, and sanctions monitoring. We’re getting tired just typing about it. 

Does this sound like your organization? Learn how the University of Kentucky solved these challenges here or by clicking the image below.

Why Your Vendor Onboarding Workflow Matters

In case you’re unfamiliar, we’ve been shouting from the rooftops for ages about how important the vendor management role is. It underpins functions that make the entire organization work and supports the organization’s mission. On a recent podcast with us, Jenn Glassman summed this up:  

And it starts with vendor onboarding. 

Unfortunately, many organizations are still making the vendor desk take on these responsibilities manually. This leads to inefficiencies, increased risk, and major burnout. 

On the other hand, automating vendor onboarding workflows can cut administrative overhead, allow you to identify potential vendor issues early, and avoid expensive fraud incidents. Also, it makes your vendor management team a lot happier. Trust us. 

But in case you’re still not a believer, let’s talk specifics: 

Automated vendor onboarding workflows improve efficiency 

Manual processes are clunky and error-prone. We love humans, but they – especially the ones tasked with entering data for 10,000+ vendors – can make mistakes. One slipped finger, one typo, one wrong number, and a lot can go wrong. 

On the other hand, automated vendor onboarding processes create standardized, repeatable functions to onboard new suppliers. In turn, this drastically reduces the potential for costly errors. 

Stronger processes minimize risk

A lot can go wrong within the vendor onboarding workflow, and we’re not just talking about typos. The vendor desk must also make sure that new vendors pass a set of checks and criteria, including sanctions and debarment lists, compliance, and more. 

A misstep here can have big implications. Yes, it can be expensive. For example, you could face heavy civil and criminal penalties for doing business with an entity on a sanctions list. But what about your reputation? And what are the legal ramifications?

Automation can minimize risk from every angle. It simplifies checks against sanctions lists but also ensures that bad actors can’t sneak in due to wonky processes on your end. No one wants to lose thousands or even millions of dollars to a bad call. Just listen to Matt McDonald talk about the close call the City of Vista had with a fraudster:

Use vendor onboarding workflows to reduce maverick spend

Lack of documentation and automation can lead to maverick spend. In other words, you could be eating up 10-20% of projected savings on spend that’s not authorized through proper procurement channels. 

It’s what happens when vendor onboarding workflows aren’t aligned with a vetting process, which is common without automation. An automated vendor management platform means spend goes towards approved and onboarded vendors. Additionally, you get more visibility into costs and more control over payments. It’s also vital to being more strategic with vendor management.

Uncovering Vendor Onboarding Challenges

Before you look at the solution, you should fully grasp the problem. For many organizations, it looks like: 

• Paper vendor applications that have to be downloaded, manually filled out by the vendor, and sent back via snail mail, email, or (gasp) fax
• Manual corrections to incomplete or incorrect applications. That means AP sends the original application back with written instructions on how to right the error(s) 
• Manual checks of vendor applications to ensure the vendor is not on federal debarment or sanctions lists 
• Manual checks that no duplicates exist in the ERP
• Manual input of vendor information into ERP
• Manual revisions for any change requests
• Ad hoc email and phone calls to address invoice status updates

Phew. And that’s not even exhaustive, but it does give you a taste of what slow, tedious, manual processes do and how they can put a chokehold on your vendor onboarding workflows. 

So what’s the fix?

How to Add Order to Your Vendor Onboarding Workflow 

An automated vendor onboarding platform offers an enhanced, secure, and fast way to vet and onboard vendors. Also, it allows for easy changes and continuous monitoring so your vendor desk can focus on strategy and high-value tasks.

More specifically, automation improves your vendor onboarding workflow with: 

• Options  to collect supplier diversity credentials, certificates of insurance and conflict of interest data
• Options to highlight payment terms to drive usage of preferred payment types
• Outbound invitations to suppliers/payees with complete onboarding visibility to end-users
• The ability to eliminate huge volumes of calls and emails related to status-related inquiries (aka ‘where’s my _______?’)
• Supplier-driven submission in a centralized, secure platform with automated W9 creation
• Automated third-party and proprietary checks, including TIN and address verification, continuous sanctions monitoring, and risk assessment of banking

The payoff is clear. Automating your vendor onboarding workflow reduces staff time requirements dramatically, closes fraud loopholes, ensures current sanctions compliance and keeps your vendor master clean. 

More importantly, your vendor desk isn’t overrun with nightmarish manual labor that would keep anyone up at night. 

A Few Vendor Onboarding Best Practices

Automation doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. Even baby steps can put you on the right path to secure and streamline your vendor onboarding workflow. 

It starts with the basics: 

• Use a template for documenting procedures for vendor onboarding and change management (Try this one).
• Document exceptions to your current vendor onboarding workflow, like when leadership asks to break process to onboard suppliers or change information (Try this log book).  
• Have a documented (or automated) vendor verification and vetting process.
• Understand staffing and resources and set up a line of succession for when people are out or leave. 
• Implement a framework for vendor compliance (like this one) that includes considerations for federal, state and local regulations.
• Identify areas to reduce human error and ensure smooth vendor onboarding.

If you’d like some more best practices for vendor onboarding, check out our guide to re-evaluating your vendor onboarding checklist. Remember, vendor onboarding doesn’t have to be a hotbed of fraud opportunity, compliance confusion and extra labor. Do your homework, leverage the right tools, and keep your head up. 

Why Choose PaymentWorks to Automate Vendor Onboarding Workflows?

With digital supplier onboarding from PaymentWorks, your process can be organized, secure and efficient, ensuring peace of mind for your entire organization.

PaymentWorks is the foundation of vendor master data and helps organizations of all kinds automate vendor onboarding. PaymentWorks provides customers with secure, compliant, and optimized business payments. 

Featuring the industry’s only payments security warranty for fraudulent payments and a network of tier one partners, PaymentWorks enables customers in healthcare, higher education, K-12, state and local government, enterprise and more to capitalize on the opportunity to digitize the payments process while reducing risk, controlling costs and earning revenue. 

To learn more about how we do it and the partners we work with, visit our website, check out our news, or listen to our podcast, “Risky Business”.

How Vendor Management Appreciation Day Can Help

December 12th may be behind us but the party’s not over yet! We’ll be celebrating Vendor Management Appreciation Day all year long. 

Why? Because there’s no expiration date on honoring one of the most important, under-recognized roles across industries: vendor management. 

Join us in observing Vendor Management Appreciation Day (VMAD)! We’re gearing up for this year’s celebration and we want you to be a part of it!

VMAD is a unique holiday geared toward unifying vendor management professionals and celebrating innovation in the field.

We’ve been releasing gifts each month to help you supercharge your vendor management efforts. We’re also planning some awesome events so everyone can connect and celebrate the important, strategic role of vendor management. 

Learn more here, and grab some free vendor management goodies.

Want Help Aligning Your Teams on Vendor Onboarding Workflow?

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Vendor Verification: How NOT to Do it and What to Do Instead

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