Vendor Evaluation and its Benefits

Vendor evaluation or vendor assessment is the process businesses use to determine whether their list of prospective vendors and suppliers can meet their organizational standards and comply with the rules of the contract. The intent is to secure a low-risk and best possible vendor-supplier portfolio. The benefits of the vendor risk assessment process, which far exceed the challenges of setting it up, including finding low-risk sources for high-quality goods and services, as well as the development of mutually beneficial, long-term business relationships. 

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has only reinstated the importance and relevance of systematic vendor & supplier assessment to tackle unforeseen business challenges. Suppliers with sufficient resources were able to carry on operations even during the global crisis and meet customer demand. As such, standard vendor assessment helps onboarding suppliers that ensure compliance with the laws, regulations, and standards that apply to your business while also maintaining a continuous flow of essential supplies so that your business is not hampered.

Shared below are a few first-hand benefits of vendor evaluation:

Identifying best Vendors for your business:

You can shortlist vendors based on your selection criteria and risk assessment with the required reputation, skills, and knowledge good enough to solve your business challenges. One of the first things to evaluate your vendor is downloading their business information report. This report enlists all the details of your vendor-supplier that helps establish authenticity and build trust. Understanding the business background via a business information report also helps greatly in your decision-making.

Reduced Costs:

Just like you get the best price when you can compare with a lot of options you can also get the best cost by comparing top-notch vendors and the competitive environment by avoiding financial issues around poor service and delivery. Also, over time as your relationship gets established, vendors may offer future opportunities to reduce costs through volume or further discounts.

Boosted Efficiency:

The agility of a business is impacted positively by the smooth flow of your supply chain. With ongoing monitoring, you’ll notice when inefficiencies occur and leave you in a position to rectify them timely in partnership with your vendor or supplier.

Strengthen long-term relationships:

Vendor management when done properly may foster communication, collaboration & loyalty. It may bolster your brand and supports mutually beneficial professional relationships that will improve your reputation and serve everyone in the long run.

Improve Your Business:

Proper vetting will help you, onboard matching vendors, at the best price. These savings will be transferred to providing higher-quality and more competitively priced goods or services. This results in serving your customers far better! 

Cyber risk assessment – an imperative risk mitigation solution 

A crucial part of any diligent company’s risk management strategy today, inevitably involves cyber crime assessment. A relatively modern threat, cyber risk looms over the business as we shift our dependencies more and more on technology and information systems. This is where cybercrime assessment comes into the picture. The primary purpose of a cyber risk assessment is to support well-informed decision making and develop risk responses. Onboarding a new vendor or dealing with an existing one involves a lot of customer data sharing. Hence it is critical to identify and evaluate the type of data that vendors and suppliers may need to access for their work. You do not want to compromise important information to a cyber leak. Cyber risk assessment provides the necessary security & prevents unnecessary losses. 

Skyminder by CRIF is a solution that provides a cyber risk assessment report, called KYND, and empowers business managers, owners, and professionals to easily assess cyber risk related to business. It highlights the vulnerability and acts as a security buffer between business deals. The KYND cyber risk report applies to any and all businesses belonging to any industry. The report is an easy, clear, and concise read and does not require an IT expert to understand.

CRIF is one of the leading credit information companies in India and is recognized by RBI. CRIF provides technological solutions to all scales of businesses. If you want to know more about how we can help you in your risk assessment and vendor management, contact CRIF today.