The Author is Head- Commercial, First Advantage India, a leading background screening firm headquartered in the US.

Vendors have a pivotal role in the growth of an organization and in many cases represent the face of a brand to its consumers and audience. To ensure that the firms are associating with vendors meeting all screening security standards and compliance requirements, organizations must have a process of screening which detects any un-true information that could harm the firm's credentials, reputation or put the company and its extended work-force at risk.

All types of businesses are concerned about data privacy and cybercrime. Moreover, large firms are subject to regulatory compliance standards, so there is an even higher level of attention to security with internal employees, customers and vendors.

Lack of vendor screening can lead to unwanted consequences like lawsuits due to wrong partnerships, potential fraud and financial failure leading to breach of contract which can result in serious ramifications on a company's public image.

checking a vendor's credentials, as well as those of its owners should be an essential practice before providing a vendor access to business assets, facilities and workforce. This may protect a company from downtime besides potential loss in revenue and future liability.

For any organization, therefore checking a vendor's credentials, as well as those of its owners should be an essential practice before providing a vendor access to business assets, facilities and workforce. This may protect a company from down-time besides potential loss in revenue and future liability.

Innovative screening solutions:
Today large firms are implementing innovative ways to screen their vendors. There are different levels of screening which are appropriate for the organizations, employees and vendors. One of the most innovative way of screening is through Vendor Screening Solutions.

Vendor Screening Solutions helps in minimizing a company's potential liability by screening current agencies, prospective customers, vendors and suppliers. These solutions also help businesses take decisions to expand operations by verifying vendor's credentials
.Vendor Screening solutions must include:
· Company verification Online Re-search
· Company Address Verification
· TAN Validation· Validation of Certificate of Incorporation
· Court Record Research
· Database checks

Vendor Screening Solutions hence serve to reduce risk and enhance employees, client and brand safety. It reveals a vendor's past performance trends, history and reputation to take a wise decision for an organization before partnering with a vendor.