How to Correctly Track Vendor and Tenant Certificates of Insurance Using a Cloud-Based Solution?
What happens when you are unfamiliar with the details of your tenants and vendors? Well, the short answer is a lot, but the longer answer is obviously more complicated than that.
You do not need to know each tenant or vendor intimately or even personally, but there is vital information that you as a contractor, landlord, business owner, or key employee within an organization should know. This information is vital to keeping your records up to date and everyone current and compliant. In a situation such as this, with lots of individuals and presumably other companies involved, an owner might prefer to manage their different locations as projects.
Project management gives you the ability to have multiple risk profiles for multiple participants within a project. When this happens the tracking becomes more difficult without the proper solution.
The First Few Steps
1. Automated Tracking Software
Starting from when you hire your first vendor or lease to your first tenant, an organization should be using automated tracking software to track all of the necessary information for each situation. A paper system or regular filing cabinet will not keep your files up to date and current like a software system will. Even spreadsheets will not be as effective as software that can be kept updated daily.
2. Determine your certificate requirements
Not every tenant or vendor will have exactly the same insurance requirements compared to each other, but there should be specific standards created that each needs to follow. Again, this is where project-based tracking can occur. For example, a subcontractor working on a large project will not have the same insurance requirements as a subcontractor working on a project for one day. For these reasons, you might want to have software that is able to create risk profiles in a template form that can be applied to each insured with a single click.
3. Organizing your documents using tags
Creating tags within your software system is the easiest way to keep track of anyone with whom you do business. For example, a tag can be created for all tenants on Main Street and a separate tag for all tenants on Beacon Street. The information for a tenant, when needed, will be easily searchable. A vendor can be organized based on the project they are working on.
4. Storing of important documents
Utilizing the document depository helps you to store not only your certificates of insurance but all other documents that may be relative to your relationship. An automated, cloud-based system will allow you to search for tags and projects above just the names of individuals.
Should I use a cloud-based or local server to store my Certificates of Insurance?
The benefits of using a cloud-based system may not be obvious at first but it will be when the time comes to have your information readily available off-site. These days, with the ability to work remotely, the advantage of a cloud-based tracking system is a game-changer in how organizations do business. If any team member is working remotely and needs to access a vendor or tenant’s information, they can do so easily using any mobile device.
With the ability to have multiple data users, any team member can be kept up to date on changes whenever they occur in the system. Using a system that is location and device-dependent means that there can only be a single person with access to vital information at times when they are at that specific location.
In a digital space that is ever-changing, it is important to use the latest proven technology so that you can be as knowledgeable as possible within your business and propel your results forward. Organizations that embrace automation and cloud-based solutions will experience a higher return on their investment with time saved and increased productivity when tracking tenant and vendor information.
To schedule a demo to see how our automated, cloud-based certificate tracking system can work for your organization, contact us.
