Why businesses need a formal onboarding and monitoring process for suppliers

When businesses think about credit checks, the focus is often on new customers. But what about your suppliers? Supplier risk can be just as damaging as customer risk, sometimes even more so. The financial failure of a key supplier can severely impact your operations, leading to missed deadlines, unhappy customers and lost revenue. Implementing a formal onboarding process for new suppliers, including credit checks and ongoing credit monitoring, is essential for any business that relies on third-party vendors.

Business Problem

Suppliers are the backbone of your business, providing raw materials, products or services. But what happens if a supplier suddenly faces financial trouble?

  • Delayed deliveries can disrupt your production schedule.
  • Quality issues may arise if suppliers cut corners to save costs.
  • Complete failure could leave you scrambling for alternatives at a higher cost.

Minimise these risks and protect your supply chain by assessing a supplier’s financial health upfront and monitoring it over time.

Product Solution

Many businesses already perform credit checks on new customers to reduce the risk of unpaid invoices. However, suppliers pose a different kind of risk, that affects your ability to fulfil your own commitments.

  • Customer risk impacts your cash flow.
  • Supplier risk impacts your ability to deliver.

Both are critical, but supplier risk often gets overlooked. A formal onboarding and monitoring process ensures you treat suppliers with the same level of scrutiny as customers.

The Access Intell credit management software can be used to automate this process:

  • Streamline the initial supplier credit check with our onboarding software. Manual creditworthiness checks can be time consuming. Our software can be used as a standalone assessment tool, by simply entering an ABN to instantly receive all the information you need to know. It’s fast, easy and transparent.
  • Continuously monitor your suppliers to be alerted to business changes and red flags. Our trusted, aggregated data saves you time by collating the latest information from global sources, converting it into common ratings and delivering uniform risk categorisation.

Ensure you formalise the new supplier onboarding process with clear policies and documentation, so every new supplier is vetted consistently.

Expected Result

The benefits of supplier credit checks and ongoing monitoring include:

  1. Reduced operational risk: Identify financially unstable suppliers before you rely on them.
  2. Improved negotiation power: Knowing a supplier’s financial position helps you negotiate better terms.
  3. Business continuity: Ongoing monitoring alerts you to early warning signs, so you can act before a crisis hits.
  4. Stronger relationships: Transparent onboarding builds trust and sets clear expectations from the start.

The key to minimising risk is proactivity. Don’t wait for a supplier to fail, instead monitor their financial health continuously. This approach helps you:

  • Spot red flags early.
  • Prepare contingency plans.
  • Maintain uninterrupted operations.

A formal supplier onboarding process is a business necessity. Safeguard your supply chain, protect your reputation, and ensure long-term stability.

Ready to automate your new supplier onboarding process?

Book a tailored demo with our team to learn more.

Book a DemoGet Started