3 Ways to Speed Up Supplier Onboarding

Onboarding a new supplier can be time-consuming. You know the drill. As the buyer, you reach out to a potential partner asking for information. From there, the supplier responds with the required data. 

It’s a manual back and forth process that’s repeated hundreds of times by both parties. For the supplier it means filling out multiple questionnaires asking the same questions. For you, it means numerous documents and data to manage. Not to mention limited cross-team visibility into onboarding activities.

But if you have the following three things in place you can streamline and significantly accelerate the process of onboarding a new supplier. 

Central network to manage data, tasks, and teams
By taking a network approach, you’ll have a central location for managing your data, tasks, and teams. It’s easier to upload, monitor, and organize your contracts and documents in one place instead of trying to manage information that’s dispersed across different folders, emails, and desk tops.

With the right network data model in place, suppliers can share their company information numerous times with buyer connections across the network, rather than filling out separate onboarding questionnaires for each organization. And buyers can post opportunities and discover small and diverse businesses they may not have known existed without the network.

Automate manual processes to drive efficiency
By automating your procurement team’s key tasks and manual processes, you can speed up supplier onboarding and be more efficient overall. For example, leverage a library of baseline questionnaires that you can customize based on your unique business rules. Having automated onboarding surveys makes it easier to gather, monitor, and store the specific supplier data you need.

Need to gather more information? Configure your surveys to trigger workflows that collect any additional data and documents your business requires. More advanced configurations would include automatically flagging anything that doesn’t meet your requirements for a risk review.

Validated data to ensure security
Access to a central network where suppliers are in charge of updating and managing their own data saves time and drives efficiency. It means the buyer doesn’t have to chase down additional or updated information from the supplier. And suppliers only fill out one questionnaire, and that information can then be saved to a company profile. 

Consider taking this one step further. Having the self-reported data analyzed and verified will significantly cut back on the time it takes to onboard a new supplier from months to days. A system that automatically validates key commercial data like TIN, checking, OFAC, W-9 forms ensures that you’ll be working with the most current, high quality and secure information.

Gain enhanced visibility, speed, and efficiency
Put these three things into place—a central network, automation, and validated data—and you’ll drastically reduce the time it takes to onboard new suppliers. 

When you’re ready, Graphite can help you with all three of these components.