You'll Get Cost Savings & Better Outcomes if You Use One Background Check Vendor
Vendor consolidation is a phrase you'll often hear in IT and manufacturing. But other business departments, like HR, should also embrace this concept, especially when it comes to background check services.
If you currently use multiple vendors to perform your drug and alcohol testing, criminal history checks, and other vital screenings, like MVRs or social media, consider consolidating to one trusted background check partner who can handle it all.
Why? Below, we'll discuss five crucial reasons:
✔ Reduced costs
✔ Increased efficiency
✔ Improved risk management
✔ Better customer service
✔ Improved quality control
1. If you consolidate your background check services, you'll likely save money. (Yes, really.)
We get it. This suggestion contradicts healthy competition. However, consolidating vendors can save money. A 2017 Gartner study described how a large company wanted to rein in its technology spending by consolidating vendors. The company reduced the number by 25%, netting 20% in annual savings.
You might be thinking, "Well, sure. Going from many vendors to a few would save money. But what about going from a few vendors to just one?"
MIT Technology Review notes that businesses wrongly assume that consolidating services to a single vendor will reduce the business's ability to leverage better pricing. The opposite is actually true since the business can take advantage of volume pricing and preferred vendor discounts.
Bottom line: Consolidating your background check services to one vendor will have a similar effect.
The problem we often see with clients is that they've lost sight of their background check spending. They might do some drug testing with one vendor, the occasional social media screening with another, and other standard checks, like criminal records, with yet another.
The amounts might seem perfectly OK and manageable when looking at these line items separately. But if you add up all the amounts for the background check services, you'll likely be in for a surprise. The reality is you're spending more money than you need to by spreading the costs over multiple vendors rather than taking a strategic approach to your procurement.
2. If you consolidate your background check services, you'll enjoy increased efficiency.
Because you're only working with one vendor, you'll have only one point of contact—provided you choose a vendor that assigns you a dedicated account manager.
That last bit is essential. If you choose a vendor that puts you on a customer merry-go-round where you talk to a different customer service rep every time you call or email, you won't experience this benefit. (By the way, at Good Egg, we give you your own dedicated customer success manager.)
It makes sense that working with one point of contact will improve efficiency since that person will understand . . .
- Your business and its hiring challenges
- The types of roles you're hiring for
- The best screening package for each role
- How to quickly scale your packages as you grow
- What to monitor in terms of relevant laws and regulations
For example, let's say your business is expanding into a new state. Your dedicated account manager will be able to guide you on how to successfully screen candidates in that state. You won't have to re-explain your business or contact multiple vendors. Instead, your account manager can move quickly and efficiently while facilitating your background check services in the new state.
3. If you consolidate your background check services, you'll enjoy improved risk management.
Good business is all about good relationships. Having a solid relationship with one vendor will make it easier to . . .
- Negotiate pricing
- Improve contract terms
- Resolve issues
- Minimize the risk of financial losses
You'll also eliminate the often-overlooked costs associated with managing multiple background check vendor relationships.
Plus, consider these practical ways consolidating background check services will improve risk management:
- Using multiple vendors makes integrations challenging. What if you use an applicant tracking system (ATS) that only two of your four background check vendors use? Talk about a headache, right?
- Using multiple vendors can be problematic from a regulation standpoint. For example, maybe your business must adhere to specific industry standards and regulations that could affect or influence background check procedures, like DOT compliance. Try monitoring compliance across multiple vendors. That sort of thing can keep an HR manager awake at night.
- Using multiple vendors could create a security risk. Again, you have to ensure multiple vendors are keeping data secure. Wouldn't it be easier to work with one vendor that invests in the latest security protocols? (Short answer: Of course it would.)
4. If you consolidate your background check services, you (and your candidates) will enjoy better customer service.
This benefit ties into number three. If you work with a background check vendor that assigns you a dedicated customer success manager, you'll get the customer service you deserve—and so will your candidates.
Having one point of contact means that you won't have to . . .
- Re-explain yourself or your business every. Time. You. Call.
- Lose precious hours trying to get through to a human when you have an urgent matter
- Worry about your requests falling through the cracks
- Wonder if someone will ever get back to you
- Be embarrassed by how candidates are treated when they have an issue or question
When something comes up—a question, an urgent matter—you'll simply pick up the phone or email a human directly. And that person will either answer the phone or respond promptly.
Your candidates can expect similar results. Candidates will view your background check vendor as an extension of your brand (for better or worse). That’s why you want a background check vendor that will treat your candidates like it treats you.
Here's the thing: If you worked with three different vendors and they all assigned you a dedicated account manager, that would be chaos. (And honestly, the chance of you finding three vendors that assign dedicated account managers is slim.)
But having one excellent customer success manager who facilitates everything for you? That's ideal.
5. If you consolidate your background check services, you'll have better overall quality control.
When it comes to background checks, quality trumps everything else. Otherwise, why bother running them?
Working with one vendor means you can rest assured that your background checks are applied consistently. This can lead to higher accuracy in the overall background check process, reducing the risk of errors or omissions.
Working with one vendor also means getting a customized background check solution. If you buy your screenings piecemeal across several vendors, you won't get a solution tailored to your hiring needs. Instead, it will be a crapshoot.
Good Egg would love to be your go-to vendor for all your background check services.
We love helping companies develop and deploy a background check process that makes sense to them and their unique hiring challenges. Get in touch today and experience the Good Egg difference.
