5 Ways Enterprise Risk Control Helps Property Managers Sleep Better at Night
Whether the property is commercial, retail, or homeowner associations, most people don’t realize the full extent of what the managing party is truly responsible for handling. As a property or community manager though, you understand what has to take place behind-the-scenes to ensure all of the amenities and services offered on your property exceed your tenant or homeowner’s expectations. Corralling all of the vendors and other moving parts to manage your property seamlessly is a difficult enough job.
However, there is a hidden part of property management that most are unfamiliar with but can be an even bigger headache than a burst pipe, fallen tree, or dirty pool.
We’re of course referring to vendor compliance, insurance credentialing, and other risk management activities most will never see or think about. But they are critical to protecting your tenants, your owners, and your management company. Collecting documents and verifying that your vendors’ insurance and licensing information is up-to-date is one of those mundane challenges that comes with managing a property.
Enterprise Risk Control, or ERC, provides a combined software and service solution that helps property managers in retail, commercial, and homeowner association facilities meet this challenge in a timely, cost-effective manner.
Below are 5 ways that ERC features take the tedium out of these vital tasks and allow you to focus more on ensuring the space your tenants rely on meets their needs.
1. Automated, standardized onboarding process – When a new vendor comes online, the property manager or HOA management company must gather all of the vendor’s documents and verify their coverages manually if they don’t have a software solution. This can lead to papers piling up on your desk, things slipping through the cracks, and an inconsistent credentialing process.
Details regarding what a particular vendor needs to provide can be standardized based on parameters that you provide. So if you have a new electrician you’re working with, they will be able to log into the ERC portal and easily see what they need to provide. The user-friendly, intuitive interface makes providing documents and other information easy for even the smallest businesses.
2. User-friendly functionality – Not only does ERC’s software streamline your onboarding process, it is easy for property managers to get both a birds-eye and detailed view of vendors with just a couple of clicks. The main dashboard provides a snapshot of all vendors and highlights any that require attention.
Drill down capabilities allows you to segment vendors based on a variety of parameters, including industry, location, compliant or not compliant, or whether the business is woman or minority-owned. This allows you to easily understand the composition of your vendor pool, giving you visibility into their details as well as their locations.
ERC’s functionality helps you understand gaps like this and ensures resources are where you need them when you need them.
3. Managing relationships – Ensuring vendors have the required licenses, tax documents, and insurance coverage is a hassle even with a robust software solution. Phone calls always need to be made, and follow-up emails always need to be sent to either onboard a new vendor or update an existing vendor’s information. If your property relies on multiple plumbers, electricians, landscapers, and other service providers, this alone can create a tremendous burden.
ERC is more than a software tool. Our U.S.-based team handles this communication for you. No longer will you have to chase down a vendor, get them to send updated coverage information for example, and then input that information into the system.
In addition to working directly with your vendors, ERC employs licensed insurance agents to effectively communicate with a vendors’ insurance agent to collect information, discuss coverage amounts, liability limits, and any other issues that inevitably arise.
4. Ongoing verification – Compliance isn’t a one and done task…insurance policies renew, licenses expire, and contracts change. With hundreds of vendors in your roster, this can be impossible to keep up with, especially when you have paper files or Excel spreadsheets.
ERC’s ongoing verification functionality ensures vendors remain compliant without adding more to-do items to your list. Your vendor pool is automatically evaluated each day to see what policies or licenses are expiring soon and need updating. Email notifications are sent out days in advance reminding the vendor that they need to supply up-to-date documentation.
ERC’s vendor dashboard view allows us to easily see the status of each vendor based on the criteria you provide, with an easy-to-use identifier for those vendors who are out of compliance.
The only time a property manager will have to be involved in getting updated documents is if we’re unable to get a reply from the vendor after multiple attempts.
Once the setup is complete, there will be little to no hands-on tasks for onboarding a new vendor.
In addition to automating your onboarding for consistency and convenience and eliminating the need for paper documents, ERC can also be integrated with most accounting systems to provide a seamless flow between work orders, purchase orders, and compliance.
5. On call support for both client and vendor –One of the biggest ways ERC relieves the burden of vendor and risk management for property managers is the superb on-call support for both client and vendor.
Although the software system is extremely user-friendly for vendors to provide their compliance information, technical issues inevitably come up. However, instead of you having to figure out the issue, the vendor can call our team to get it addressed.
This support goes beyond technical issues to include actual documents or other information the vendor needs to provide to be in compliance. If they have a question or otherwise need help completing the process, the vendor can call the team at ERC rather than bothering you.
Other compliance tools on the market relieve property managers and their staff of little burden. While they are user-friendly and certainly better than pen and paper and spreadsheets, they still place much of the burden of credentialing, compliance, and risk management on the property manager…they are reactive as opposed to proactive.
ERC is more than a software solution. ERC takes on the day-to-day activities associated with credentialing vendors, acting as an extension of your vendor management team. As such, working with ERC is truly a partnership.
Our U.S.-based support team and insurance professionals behind the software tool tailor the system to your individual needs and work directly with your vendors and their insurance providers.
With this burden taken off your plate, you will not only be able to focus more on your property, but also relationships with your tenants and vendors. And you’ll also sleep better at night knowing that your property is protected from a potentially devastating risk.
To learn more about the software and how Enterprise Risk Control can help your property better manager vendors, email Daniel Millstone at DMillstone@enterpriserc.com to schedule a free demo today!