Understanding 3rd Party Pitfalls. How The Right People, Process, and Technology Can Help Fight Corruption.

Whenever companies think about corruption or bribery, they tend to focus on 3^rd party business partners such as sales agents and distributers. Although these are areas of very high risk, there are other avenues of concern that can and will expose a company to bribery and risk. Supply chains, as vast as they are, increase your vulnerability tremendously. Suppliers are considered 3^rd party business partners and have a tier level that makes it even more difficult to control and over see. Companies must remember that suppliers also have their own suppliers, and those 2^nd tier suppliers have business partners as well. You can clearly see that the level of exposure increases and although your company does not directly work with these 2^nd and 3^rd tier suppliers, you are still held responsible of the action that happens at all levels, if it involves your company.

Many organizations are taking increased steps to focus on this continuing issue. Having a well organized internal structure can lead to better preparing the organization for handling their external exposure and risk. Of course, having the right people and process in place is crucial but also having an element of technology is essential as well. Technology in the compliance world is growing rapidly and is gaining momentum in monitoring risk and enabling companies to react quickly. Technology, coupled with large data, can help identify areas of heightened risk and give companies the advantage to react in real time. Companies that look into expanding into more global markets run the risk of being exposed but having the data that shows this risk will give the company insights on what actions are needed to take place. If your organization is operating globally and feel that your risk of exposure has increased because of it, join us for how 3^rd party management pitfalls can potentially harm you and where the right people, process and technology can help your organization. Click Here.