Icertis launches Supplier Onboarding and Diversity Compliance application

Icertis, the contract intelligence company, has announced a new application built on the Icertis Contract Intelligence (ICI) platform that provides hassle-free supplier onboarding and support for supplier diversity compliance.

The Icertis Supplier Onboarding and Diversity Compliance application allows organisations to quickly evaluate suppliers and rapidly onboard them, while providing collaboration capabilities to ensure suppliers are compliant with organizational and customer policies, including supplier diversity initiatives and environmental sustainability programs.

Supplier onboarding has traditionally been cumbersome and time-consuming, and rapidly changing regulatory environments have added complexity to the compliance process. Fragmented onboarding practices can result in limited supplier information capture and poor visibility into whether suppliers meet a company’s diversity, sustainability, and regulatory obligations. Further complicating the onboarding process is a lack of collaboration capabilities and integration with existing systems, which can become a hurdle in adoption, usage, and compliance.

“Whether during business as usual or times of crisis, companies need not only agility to access badly needed supplies and services, but also a framework that mitigates risks,” said Nick Heinzmann, Research Analyst, Spend Matters. “A fully effective solution should link initial information collection with ongoing maintenance and compliance against the terms of an agreement. Because onboarding is ultimately just one step in a longer process of managing a supplier relationship, the most effective organisations will deploy a solution that addresses both the external risks brought by third parties and the range of potential events that could occur over the course of a relationship.”

To improve communication and accelerate time to value, the Icertis Supplier Onboarding and Diversity Compliance application provides a seamless way to collaborate with suppliers. A self-service onboarding process coupled with rule-based routing allows organizations to rapidly evaluate a large number of suppliers. Additionally, integration with third-party data sources like Dun & Bradstreet and supplier risk management software allows organisations to cross-reference supplier information, enabling informed qualification decisions. Other features include the ability to automatically add clauses related to Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) programs; define supplier policies, documentation and data requirements to ensure compliance; and integrate with major business applications like sourcing, ERP, P2P, and more. 

“Being able to effectively manage the supply chain is vital to an organization’s long-term success, and the importance has only increased as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted assured supplier relationships, resulting in a rush to identify new suppliers and onboard them quickly,” said Neal Singh, COO, Icertis. “This application helps companies struggling to conform to multiple supplier management policies and protocols, such as required documentation, diverse supplier commitments, environmental sustainability plans, and contract evaluations. Because the ICI platform gets smarter with every transaction, companies can now leverage their contract intelligence to capitalise on new opportunities and rapidly respond to challenges today and long after the current crisis has passed.”