Prepping Your 2025 Vendor Management Plan

by Ashley Poynter

Content Manager

Prepping Your 2025 Vendor Management Plan

It’s time to document your 2025 vendor management plan, but where do you start? Effective vendor management isn’t just about ticking boxes; it’s about building a resilient system that delivers business value and mitigates risks. Whether you’re fine-tuning your existing strategy or starting from scratch, here’s a step-by-step guide to help you create a plan that will keep you ahead of the game in 2025.

2025 Vendor Management Plan Step #1. Assess Where You Are Now

Vendor Management Plan Step #2. Identify Key Goals for 2025

Vendor Management Plan Step #3. Set Measurable Milestones

Vendor Management Plan Step #4. Plan for Automation (If You Haven’t Already)

Vendor Management Plan Step #5. Stay Flexible & Open to Change

Setting Yourself Up for Year-Round Success With a Strong 2025 Vendor Management Plan

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2025 Vendor Management Plan Step #1. Assess Where You Are Now

Before you can plan for the future and craft your 2025 vendor management plan, it’s essential to evaluate where you stand today. Start by taking stock of your current vendor management processes and asking yourself a few key questions:

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What’s working?

Identify the areas where your current strategy excels. Do you have strong vendor relationships? Are your payment processes running smoothly? Make a note of what’s already on track so you can build on these strengths.

What needs improvement?

Take a hard look at your pain points. Are there delays in onboarding? Is your compliance process inconsistent? Pinpointing these areas of friction will help you focus your 2025 vendor management plan on the most impactful changes.

How accurate Is your vendor data?

Data is the backbone of effective vendor management. Outdated or inaccurate data can lead to missed compliance steps, duplicates, and payment errors. Conduct a data audit to clean up and refresh your records, ensuring that you have a solid foundation moving forward.

For a structured approach to documenting your 2025 vendor management plan, our WRITE IT DOWN TEMPLATE can be an invaluable tool. Having doubts? Listen to Christopher Arehart of Chubb highlight the importance of writing your process down:

This template guides you in documenting your procedures for supplier onboarding and change management. By capturing the current state, you’re one step closer to visualizing and achieving your ideal vendor management strategy.

Vendor Management Plan Step #2. Identify Key Goals for 2025

Now that you know where you’re starting from, it’s time to define your goals for 2025. Clear, actionable goals will guide your strategy and give you measurable targets to aim for. Here are some goals worth considering:

Compliance & security

Compliance and security are non-negotiables. With increasing regulations around data protection and vendor due diligence, staying compliant can help you avoid costly fines and protect your brand’s reputation. Consider setting goals around tightening your security checks, staying on top of evolving regulations, and reducing your exposure to fraud.

Our VENDOR ONBOARDING COMPLIANCE CHECKLIST is designed to help you conquer vendor compliance from the ground up. Use this checklist to ensure that every vendor you onboard meets the necessary requirements and that your process aligns with industry standards.

Streamline operations

Efficiency is key to effective vendor management. Goals in this area might include reducing onboarding time, minimizing manual data entry, or eliminating redundant vendors from your database. Streamlining operations not only reduces the workload for your team but also speeds up critical processes, allowing you to focus on strategic tasks.

Eliminate exceptions

One of the most dangerous threats to fraud-free vendor management is a culture of exceptions. Not sure if your organization struggles with this (there’s a good chance you do)? Hear our own Angela Sarno break it down for you below:

To start productive conversations with your team about eliminating the exceptions in vendor management, consider using our DOCUMENT THE EXCEPTIONS TOOL. This log book empowers you to track exceptions and build a compelling case for leadership to pay attention to and follow documented processes.

Vendor relationships & cost savings

Vendor management isn’t just about compliance; it’s also about building lasting, productive relationships. Consider making it part of your 2025 vendor management plan to strengthen partnerships with your top vendors and explore opportunities for cost savings. This might involve negotiating better terms, exploring new payment methods, or consolidating vendors to reduce costs.

Vendor Management Plan Step #3. Set Measurable Milestones

Once you’ve established your goals, break them down into manageable steps. Milestones give you smaller targets to hit along the way, which keeps the process from feeling overwhelming and helps you measure progress over time.

Break down goals into actionable steps: For instance, if one of your goals is to reduce onboarding time by 50%, set specific milestones for each phase of the onboarding process, such as streamlining document collection or reducing approval time.

Regularly check progress: Quarterly reviews are a good opportunity to check your progress and make adjustments if needed. If you’re using the 90 Day Tax Filing Prep Plan you can extend its principles to vendor management. Create a 90-day calendar with tasks spread out to ensure you stay on track for each milestone.

By mapping out these steps, you’re giving yourself a clear path forward. And remember, flexibility is essential. If you’re not quite meeting your milestones, re-evaluate what’s working and adjust your approach accordingly.

Vendor Management Plan Step #4. Plan for Automation (If You Haven’t Already)

If you’re still managing vendor processes manually, embracing automation may be a box to check in your 2025 vendor management plan. Manual processes are not only time-consuming but also prone to errors and inefficiencies. By automating vendor management, you can free up your team to focus on strategic initiatives, reduce compliance risks, and improve overall efficiency.

The cost of not automating

Before jumping into automation, it can be helpful to understand the risks and costs associated with sticking to a manual process. Without automation, you’re likely facing issues like duplicate vendors, missed compliance checks, and bottlenecks in onboarding. These problems don’t just slow you down; they also expose you to potential fraud and errors that could have serious financial consequences.

Our What’s the Cost of NOT Investing in Automating your Vendor Management? template is designed to help you build a data-rich business case for automation. By clearly outlining the costs of maintaining the status quo, you can make a compelling argument to your leadership team that it’s time to modernize. Still not convinced? Try our ROI calculator. Still still not convinced? Hear Ben Lao, Head of Procurement, Ryan LLC, make a compelling business case for vendor management technology below:

How automation transforms vendor management

Imagine having a system that automatically verifies vendor information, checks for compliance, and tracks onboarding progress—all in real time. Automation tools can handle everything from sending out invitations to onboarding vendors to conducting regular compliance checks, making your entire process faster and more reliable.

When you automate, you’re also gaining a level of visibility that’s impossible with manual methods. Dashboards let you monitor payment statuses, compliance updates, and vendor performance metrics in one place, enabling you to make more informed decisions. Plus, by shifting to digital payment methods, you can reduce the costs associated with check payments and even tap into rebate opportunities with Virtual Cards.

With the right automation tools, you’re not just managing vendors; you’re optimizing every step of the process to deliver real business value. And don’t forget, automation also makes it easier to stay compliant by ensuring that each action is documented and auditable. If you’re unsure about where to start, our VENDOR ONBOARDING COMPLIANCE CHECKLIST is a great way to assess your current process and identify the automation features that will be most beneficial.

Vendor Management Plan Step #5. Stay Flexible & Open to Change

The world of vendor management is constantly evolving, with new regulations, technologies, and best practices emerging all the time. As you develop your 2025 plan, keep in mind that flexibility is crucial to staying ahead.

Anticipate industry trends

Whether it’s new compliance standards, emerging fraud tactics, or changes in digital payment methods, being proactive about industry trends will help you adapt to new challenges. Staying informed doesn’t just make your plan more resilient—it also positions you as a leader who’s ready to innovate and improve.

Adjust based on feedback

Finally, remember that feedback is one of your most valuable tools. Keep an open line of communication with your team and vendors, and be ready to adjust your strategy based on their insights. For example, if your team notices recurring issues with a specific onboarding step, consider revisiting that part of the process. And if vendors are requesting more digital payment options, explore how your payment processes can evolve to meet their needs.

Our WRITE IT DOWN TEMPLATE can help you keep track of changes in your processes and procedures over time, ensuring that your vendor management strategy remains a living document that evolves with your organization’s needs.

Setting Yourself Up for Year-Round Success With a Strong 2025 Vendor Management Plan

As you prep your vendor management plan for 2025, keep in mind that a solid strategy does more than just streamline processes—it also adds value to your organization by reducing risks, improving relationships, and increasing efficiency. By assessing where you are, setting clear goals, embracing automation, and staying adaptable, you’re setting yourself up for a year of proactive vendor management that supports your organization’s growth and resilience.

With tools like the DOCUMENT THE EXCEPTIONS TOOL and What’s the Cost of NOT Investing in Automating your Vendor Management? template, you have the resources you need to make your case, implement meaningful changes, and track your progress throughout the year. By taking a structured and flexible approach, you can tackle 2025 with confidence, knowing your vendor management strategy is ready to deliver year-round results.

Following these steps and leveraging the right tools empowers you with a plan—but also supports a robust vendor management strategy that will serve as a valuable asset for your organization all year long. So, go ahead, embrace the future, and make 2025 the year your vendor management process becomes a competitive advantage.

Get Ready For Vendor Management Appreciation 2025

Yes, we just celebrated our second annual Vendor Management Appreciation Day (VMAD) and YES! The celebration will continue in 2025. Will you join us?

Why? Because there’s no expiration date on honoring one of the most important, under-recognized roles across industries: vendor management.

Join us in observing Vendor Management Appreciation Day (VMAD)! We’re gearing up for the 2025 celebration, and we want you to be a part of it!

VMAD is a new holiday geared toward unifying vendor management professionals and celebrating innovation in the field.

Moreover, we’ve released gifts each month to help you supercharge your vendor management efforts. Additionally, we’re planning some awesome events so everyone can connect and celebrate the important, strategic role of vendor management.

In the meantime, learn more here, and grab some free vendor management goodies.