Contract Insights

Vendor management in 2026 is more critical than ever. Increased third-party risk. Compliance changes. Far-reaching digital transformation. It's all cause for a shift in strategy. What's more, there are very real consequences to poor vendor oversight. Breaches and compliance failures could leave your organization's reputation and standing at risk. According to a 2024 study published by Prevalent, a whopping 61% of organizations reported a third-party breach or security incident in the past year¹. Thankfully, a robust strategy and vendor management software tools can help address modern vendor management challenges!

Utilizing manual sourcing methods - such as gathering item prices in spreadsheets, corresponding with prospective bidders individually via email, leveraging paper-based RFPs, and collecting numerous data separately from potential suppliers - can cause you to face a time-consuming challenge in sourcing quality and cost-saving goods or services.  Without the proper tools, sourcing professionals within your procurement team could fail to determine formal bids, RFPs, budget allowances, stock levels, current contracts, and contingencies in purchase order releases.  Fortunately, you can utilize the following seven essential eSourcing software tools for seamless source-to-contract management success.

A vendor agreement - an indispensable business contract - outlines the terms of the exchange of goods or services between a business and third-party vendors. This written agreement not only provides clarity of terms and conditions, but also protects both parties' interests. Here are the five essential elements every comprehensive vendor agreement should include for healthy vendor contract management, successful operations, streamlined contract lifecycle management, and increased ROI.

We would venture to say that all businesses from various industries in the public and private sectors need vendors. Vendor relationships help power business processes. Vendors can provide supplies, services, maintenance, and raw materials for generating products. As such, it is important that organizations maintain business relationships with third-party vendors.

Unfortunately – as is the case with most things – there is a right and a wrong way to go about vendor management.

Contract and procurement teams need to sidestep spend leakage, detrimental terms, and soured vendor relationships. On the other hand, proper vendor contract management can set the stage for positive growth and opportunity realization. Here’s how.