Contractor management: it's time to upgrade from Excel
When it comes to compliance management, the benefits are endless when you move your processes to a digital and managed solution and away from Excel. However, it’s understandable why people are reluctant to make the change. The unfamiliarity of such systems might be confronting, or perhaps you’ve been doing it a certain way for so long that you’re not quite ready to deviate from your current processes.
But if you want to drastically improve these processes and how you manage compliance, it’s time to make the change.
Why you should invest in digital and a managed compliance solution
As stated above, there are numerous reasons why moving your compliance management online will benefit your business.
Automation & Time Saving
Simply put, moving online streamlines how you work, giving you back countless hours in your business that can be better spent elsewhere, such as sales and strategy.
By going online, you automate your systems completely so that many of the processes don’t have to be handled manually. For example, an online system will alert and notify you when things are due, rather than having to have an administrator on board to painstakingly keep track of everything coming in and going out of the organisation, such as when a license might be due or when a contractor needs to update their compliance information.
Data Reporting
An online system takes the guesswork out of managing your data and helps improve your processes. It’s fast, accurate, and can adapt to trends over time. It allows you to find what data you need with ease, whether you choose to filter what you need by job or by contractor. And, because the system is online, it is available to you anywhere, at any time, leaving an auditable trail that you can use for reporting.
Managed Service & Support
We all know that contractor compliance is important, but many businesses might find it challenging to pinpoint what their goals are. By working with a specialist contractor management team (paired with your online solution), they can help you articulate what it is you want to get out of your compliance management and help make your specific objectives achievable. They can also work as the first point of contact for your contractors, helping them manage their data effectively.
A Consistent Single Source of Truth
Nothing is worse than wasting time trawling through hundreds of poorly organised files to find what you need, and moving to a digital solution will help you avoid this. By moving to a centralised platform, everyone in the organisation works from the same safe and secure location. Not only does this make it exceptionally easy to find what you’re looking for, such as training materials or other documentation, but it also protects your workforce’s personal data because it’s not being lost in a random folder on someone’s hard drive.
And most importantly, it helps to mitigate non-compliance and overall risk because all licensing, documentation and training are being handled seamlessly across the platform, ensuring that you’re meeting all legislative requirements and keeping your workforce safe on site.
Collaboration & Communication
By working with a managed team and in a single online location, teams can easily communicate and collaborate with one another. There’s no need to wait hours for someone to get a piece of documentation to you if everything you need is being shared on the one platform.
How to find the right solution for your organisation
So we know why we need to move our systems online, but how do you know which provider will be right for your business? Here are 14 things you should consider before you commit:
Is the provider a proven expert in compliance management? How many years of experience do they have? What is their track record like?
Is the provider well known, and do other businesses in your industry or people in your network use them?
How intuitive is their system? Do they have tutorials to show you how to use their platform, and is it easy to use?
Can you use their solution remotely via mobile, and can it be easily accessed from multiple locations across multiple devices?
Where will it hold your data? Locally (i.e. Australia) or internationally? Do they have a robust security system for their platform?
What kind of support do they offer? Is it an online platform only that you will need to navigate yourself, or do they have a team that you can work with in tandem with the platform to guide you on best practices?
How available are they to help you? What are their hours? Can they support your contractors after hours when you’re unavailable?
Is their platform established, and are they still investing in developing their platform and processes to ensure constant improvement?
How often does the platform have downtime?
Is the provider interested in customer suggestions for future development?
How much does the provider cost? Cheapest doesn’t mean best.
Can they meet your specific needs and fill gaps as needed? Can they tweak their model to suit your requirements?
Do they or can they integrate third-party solutions to further enhance the capabilities of their platform and service?
Do they make it easy to break the contract if their solution no longer meets your needs? Do they have any ownership of your data if you choose to leave their services? Is your IP protected?
These are just some of the many considerations you must make when choosing your service provider. Research well, and once you’ve made your choice, it’s time to manage your migration.
How to manage your migration from Excel over to digital
Dealing with the migration from Excel-based systems over to a digital platform can often deter people from wanting to move. But, it’s exceptionally important and worth it in the long run, as it can be an excellent opportunity to assess your current systems (and why they likely need upgrading!).
When moving across, your managed service team will be able to help you out, but this is what you need to be thinking of as you migrate:
Timeline expectations — when does the migration need to be done by? How can you move quickly but efficiently?
How are your current processes going to be captured in your new system?
Who needs to be in charge of what element of the migration? Delegate accordingly.
The best thing you can do is consult with your management team and ask how they can help you ensure that your new way of working aligns with your objectives and processes and how it can be tailored to your organisation’s specific requirements.
Getting the most out of your solution
Ultimately, you want your new way of working to engage your contractors and ensure compliance while continuously highlighting areas for operational improvement. How can you do this? Let’s take a look.
1. Find your executive champion
Whether it's you or another team member, someone needs to champion this change and get management and executive buy-in. Reassure them why you need to make the switch.
2. Consult with your vendor
Get clear with your service provider on the plan for implementation – ensure that both of your understandings of the objectives for the migration are in line and that you will have everything you need (such as the technology) tailored to your organisational needs.
3. Get your contractors onboard
Your new system won’t work if your contractors don’t buy into it. Work with them so that they can see the benefits of the solution and find out what they need from you to get them to use it.
4. Allocate enough resources
As we touched on earlier, you need to get the right people and departments involved. Who controls the budget? Do you have the resources to make the migration work? Delegate the right people to make it happen.
5. Communicate your goals
Before, during and after implementation, communication is key. Keep everyone in the loop throughout the entire process to ensure a seamless migration. Your team wants to feel involved – so let them be. It will make things much easier when teaching everyone the new system and ensure a complete understanding of your objectives.
6. Get everyone trained
Whether the employee is a new starter, a remote worker, or has been with your company for 10+ years, everyone needs to be trained on the new system, including refresher training for future updates.
7. Bring in third-party experts if needed
If you have come up against a niche problem that your team or your service provider can’t solve, don’t be afraid to bring in a third-party expert to help.
8. Review and refine your plans
Having a robust contractor compliance management system is an ongoing process. Even after you have embedded your new online platform and management system into your business, always look for ways to improve your operations.
When it comes to these processes, always:
Monitor them
Review them
Refine them
Automate them (if you can!)
And don’t forget to take on feedback from your team to get the very best out of your solution.
So, whether you’re a business owner or part of a leadership team, if you want your contractor compliance to be better than ever in 2023, the time to move away from your Excel-based systems is right now. If you need more advice on getting started, please get in touch with our friendly team here.
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