Transparency with suppliers is more important than you may realize

Corporate transparency describes the extent to which a business’s actions are clearly observable by outsiders. Certainly your credit union’s transparency is important to your brand from a member perspective, particularly in light of the Wells Fargo fiasco, but it’s also remarkably important from a vendor management perspective. For credit union leaders, the stakes are high as individual and institutional conduct is exposed to unparalleled levels of transparency.

The evolution of the financial services industry continues, and with this evolution comes the need for credit unions to seek new levels of expertise, resources and capacity. Healthy business partnerships are critically important and transparency is a foundation to a trusted partnership. An evolving digital economy adds additional complexity to the challenge. A recent Accenture study concludes that 83 percent of surveyed executives see trust as the cornerstone of the digital economy.

There are steps any credit union should take to build a transparent, successful relationship with a supplier. Here are some simple guidelines to get you started:

• Before you engage a vendor, research potential vendors’ reputations and offerings by connecting with colleagues in your professional network. Their feedback will be invaluable.
• Ask to meet or talk with the vendors senior executives. Accessibility to a vendors leadership team is extremely important and indicative of their service culture.
• Only engage vendors who take the time to listen to you and absorb your requirements. Then have them explicitly demonstrate how your needs will be met. While a vendor vision is important, your vision is what counts most.
• It isn’t always about money. Your established budget can be your guide, but when running up against financial hurdles, push the vendor for creative solutions that allow you to accomplish your goals within your fiscal parameters.
• Work with the vendor to develop effective relationships between your impacted departments and theirs. Strong partnerships with Marketing, IT, Finance and the senior executive team will create alignment and help all maintain objectivity.
• A formal statement-of-work is always a good tool to have, but it should clearly show responsibilities on both sides of the relationship.
• Be specific in defining and documenting any departmental requirements as well as the goals of the project or relationship. Make sure the vendor understands all of this.
• Never hold back. Information you withhold at inception or later in the relationship, may prove critical. If you are a vendor reading this, underline this point!
• Keep the conversation going and communications open throughout the relationship. You should require routine product updates, interactions with vendor executives and dialogue as needed. Accessibility is critical in driving a collaborative environment.

A healthy, transparent vendor relationship is a give-and-take type of alliance. Any vendor relationship has a profound impact on the service you provide your members, so expect and demand more from your vendors. But recognize that you have responsibility and must work together to keep the channels of communication open and maintain that collaborative environment, so objectives remain clear and expectations are met.