Due Diligence and Ongoing Monitoring

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  • 1.  When to pull Dun & Bradstreet Reports

    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous
    Posted 01-25-2022 04:44 PM
    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

    Hello,

    I'm curious to what other organizations do to pull dun & bradstreet reports on vendors. I'm currently brainstorming on the criteria my company would like to adopt and was wondering how others use this tool. 



  • 2.  RE: When to pull Dun & Bradstreet Reports

    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous
    Posted 01-26-2022 08:02 AM
    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

    Good day,
    While I think it is critically important to have a variety of information sources, I think that the one thing often missed is identifying parameters that should generate action. Without the parameters, information just becomes noise. An example of this is the current situation with Russia and Ukraine. Companies should determine if they have vendors there, identify if those vendors provide critical parts. If so, are there alternative suppliers already identified? If the situation becomes critical, don't wait until your vendors can't supply your company with what you need. Act now!


  • 3.  RE: When to pull Dun & Bradstreet Reports

    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous
    Posted 01-26-2022 08:03 AM
    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

    Hi,
    I use Dun and Bradstreet reports  for a multitude of things
    1)assess potential vendors for RFPs, 
    2) merger acquisition information
    3) identifying key competitors
    4) identifying key contacts
    5) news items about a company
    6) resiliency planning
    7) industry research and risk assessment


  • 4.  RE: When to pull Dun & Bradstreet Reports

    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous
    Posted 01-26-2022 08:18 AM
    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

    We actually subscribe to ArgosRisk in lieu of D&B. We find it provides us with comparable information. We also can incorporate the scoring nicely into Venminder, which is our vendor platform.


  • 5.  RE: When to pull Dun & Bradstreet Reports

    Posted 01-26-2022 09:19 AM
    We use them based on the operational criticality risk for operationally moderate risk and operationally critical vendors.  We use LexisNexis to supplement if there appear to be any issues surfaced by the DNBi assessment or if we want to dig into some of the individual principals.

    I find one of the most helpful DNBi features is the Family Tree which provides the ability to dig into the layers of company/ownership structure.  If the vendor is publicly traded you can also pull some key financial ratios which is nice.

    For us DNBi is one tool, we always use specific due diligence to confirm issues that DNBi report might raise.  A DNBi might cause us to request additional due diligence, perform a more detailed assessment or have different conversations with our vendor but we would never take action or make a decision based solely on a DNBi or any other similar report.

    Overall I like the DNBi interface, I find it easy to use and helpful in terms of the information it provides.  Like all tools, it works best on larger companies with more publicly available information but at minimum you can confirm some basic information.

    Shelly

    ------------------------------
    Shelly Chase
    Senior Risk Analyst Officer
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  • 6.  RE: When to pull Dun & Bradstreet Reports

    Posted 01-26-2022 09:35 AM
    Just to add to the great responses, our clients will use DnB and other business credit reports under the following conditions:

    • Assessing a "Tier 1" vendor
      • Mission Critical Vendor
      • Has Access to Your Network/Customer Data
      • Has a High Annual Dollar Spend
    • Times they pull a business credit report
      • Initial Onboarding
      • Something "material" happens to the vendor - decline in performance, new lawsuit, adverse media event, etc.
      • Annual Reviews
    • Pro-Tip
      • A typical business credit report can be 40+ pages in length and contain 7 to 9 risk scores
        • Determine which scores are most relevant to your organization
        • Determine the parameters/conditions under which you would take action
          • Ex. A score drops from one risk threshold to another, when does that warrant additional action?
        • Have a plan of action (sound obvious, but often overlooked)
          • Ex. You have a mission critical vendor, their credit report has dropped dramatically and they are now in "high-risk" territory, what do you do?

    Great question, good luck!