Archive for February, 2008
And Now a Word for Our Sponsors
Recently, Vendormate has been interviewing and hiring new staffers. In fact, we’ve increased our team by 29% in the past quarter alone. But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about the conversation we have with every candidate when they ask us to elaborate on “Who is your customer?”
When you take a step back, providing vendor compliance solutions in the manner in which we provide it is a confusing business model to the outside observer. Hospitals and other enterprises engage Vendormate to provide, manage, and store vendor information and compliance documentation. Yet, the “hiring” agent, or hospital, pays a fraction of the associated credentialing fees. The majority of the cost is paid by the registering vendor — someone who had little to no say in the decision. Ouch.
Vendor needs can’t be ignored in this process. Without robust vendor participation, the hospitals can’t achieve their goals. If the hospital goals aren’t met, the project fails. So Vendormate spends a great deal of time and effort engaging vendors — communicating the importance of registration and compliance.
Add comment February 20, 2008
Year of the Rat
February 7 is the lunar New Year. As I’m sure you’re aware, this date also ushers in a new animal. We have come to the Year of the Rat.
I suffer from the typical Westerners knee-jerk reaction that ”rat” is an unfortunate sign for an entire year, let alone to be born under. So, I’m looking for evidence that this year might be better than the animal indicates to me.
Then I read this headline Survey Finds Corporate Business Ethics Back to ‘Pre-Enron Levels’ from the Fulton County Daily Record. The gist is that according to The Ethics Resource Center’s 2007 National Business Ethics Survey we’ve made little progress in institutionalizing formal ethics practices, confidential reporting programs, etc. that were all the recommendation rage following Sarbannes-Oxley.
Although we have successfully created entirely new lines of business focused on GRC (governance, risk, and compliance), we successfully haven’t changed the essential nature of people. That is, there will always be a few of us who want a more without more work.
It really is the year of the rat.
Add comment February 7, 2008
