Ignore suppliers at your peril!

Companies generally focus on risk management within their individual businesses. But it can be a costly error to forget about suppliers and contractors.

It is vitally important for companies to manage their suppliers and contractors; organisations that fail to do so can be faced with injuries or deaths, environmental damage, low productivity and legal action.

So says Nicolai Massyn, managing director of eCompliance Africa, who points out that top quality organisations are now enhancing their relationships with suppliers by implementing formal contractor management strategies – such as ComplyWorks Management System for which his organisation holds the exclusive distribution rights in Africa.

“This system allows improved pre-qualification processes, contractual performance monitoring, recurring performance evaluations and the joint development of improvement action plans throughout the lifecycle of the engagement. It results in efficient and sustainable development of the supply chain,” he explains.

Massyn notes that employers, contractor/suppliers and workers all stand to gain when compliance is not just required, but relevant. “Solutions that enforce a one-size-fits-all check list – or that encompass only a part of this lifecycle and are not customised by industry, region, company or project – invariably pit the interests of one party against the other,” he notes.

“The results are poorer relationships, inferior quality work, and inadequate compliance. This is because contractor/suppliers and workers submit information that will be accepted, but which doesn’t necessarily reflect their actual policies and procedures.”

But exactly what is a good contractor management system? According to Massyn, it is a web-based application consisting of a suite of scalable and flexible tools, coupled with a help desk, implementation team, account management and ongoing support. “Practically speaking, it is a system which helps a company manage its compliance with regards to regulatory requirements and corporate policies in areas such as health, safety, environment, security, etc, with a single solution that is securely accessible by decision makers across their organisation.

“Everyone involved in a task or project knows what’s expected of them, their compliance status, and are kept up-to-date with alerts and notifications of changes. The results are more effective risk mitigation, lower costs, greater productivity, and stronger relationships between employers, service providers and the individuals who work for both,” concludes Massyn.