In the wake of adverse political and economic activity, disruptions to supply and demand structures, and heightened competition, businesses are facing a reality with multi-layered pain points.
Further underscoring these extreme pressures is an added layer of global sanctions volatility and intensified regulatory scrutiny which businesses leaders must navigate as they chart a path of growth, domestically and internationally.
Organizations are coming to terms with the need to prioritize their compliance program as a core area of focus given its influence on many decision-making scenarios. Activities such as global sanctions screening which is mandated by many sanctions issuing bodies like OFAC, determines the geographies, entities, or individuals an organization may establish a business relationship with. It can be the deciding factor on whether digital services are permitted to be processed in a certain location, a business partnership is allowed to be embarked on, or a talent added to the workforce.
Thus, compliance officers are feeling the strain to deliver effective risk coverage amid prevailing uncertainty and myriad complex changes. Failure to thoroughly screen partners, leads, contacts, accounts, suppliers, and all business connections means risking regulatory fines, operational disruption, reputational damage, and even criminal liability – the organization is responsible for how they or their third-party connections operate. In these taxing times, it is a consequence that must be avoided.
Compliance leaders and those who share the responsibility of managing corporate regulatory conduct should evaluate and strengthen their due diligence program in order to minimize their exposure. Using ineffective strategies to perform global sanctions search, such as expanding manpower to support manual denied party screening processes which are resource-intensive and error prone or using rudimentary systems which have low capacity and are also error prone, is an impediment to achieving the compliance resilience required in this era.
Transitioning to a technology-led automated screening system is the logical step to meeting the compliance expectations of today. Innovative solutions like Salesforce Sanctions Screening, which combines the best features of Salesforce CRM and sanctions list screening, enhances the organization’s capabilities to minimize, identify and respond to sanctions threats.
Movella and EDB, are two organizations that have taken the right proactive actions in transforming their global sanctions screening program from a manual system which was slow and got in the way of other business operations, to a fully automated process that has the speed, accuracy and scalability to meet their denied party screening needs today, and support their growth in the future.
Examining the Problem: Inefficient Screening Processes
Though operating in different industries, Movella and EDB shared common challenges with their sanctions list screening programs and grappled with staying compliant while trying to grow and access new markets during a complicated sanctions period. Movella needed to frequently check its customer base to verify that its products were not being delivered to any denied parties, and EDB wanted to ensure that neither employees nor business partners were on any government watch list. Their system at the time was manual, which took up significant manpower and was often wasteful as screening efforts were duplicated by multiple teams, it was difficult to manage a consistent schedule, reports were rife with errors including false positives, and the process was inelastic to increasing data volumes.
With third party risks at an all-time high, rising enforcements, and the ease with which an organization can unwittingly violate sanctions, both businesses realized they needed a robust solution for global sanctions search. Dynamic and consistent denied party screening was especially vital because the current geopolitical volatility increased the velocity with which sanctions and restrictions are issued, modified and expanded on a near daily basis. Additionally, the nature of sanctions was complex and did not align with the different regulatory bodies issuing them. How could an organization with a manual or subpar screening platform keep pace?
They needed a platform that would provide them with the competencies to be especially compliant from a global perspective. An effective system should have the following features:
- A comprehensive collection of the various sanctions lists issued by all the relevant bodies
- Reliable technology with functionality that supports industry leading best practices
- A data management framework that captures complete and accurate information, and has the capacity to analyze the data according to defined screening controls
- Ability to automate frequent and ongoing screening
- The breadth to keep up with the swift changes that occur with sanctions
By replacing their manual system with Salesforces sanctions screening, Movella and EDB found a solution that administered a holistic approach to strengthening their compliance activities.
Exploring the Solution: How Descartes Addressed those Challenges
Descartes’ Visual Compliance technology allows user to scan through leads, contacts, and accounts directly from a customer relationship management platform like Salesforce. This level of integration seamlessly embeds denied party screening within business operations, enabling the monitoring and managing of third-party sanctions list across their journey through the organization. Whether they are restricted at the start of the relationship or become a liability over the course of time, once they appear on a denied parties list, Salesforce sanctions screening software will detect and notify appropriate personnel for remediation.
Descartes specifically addressed many of the issues with previous manual screening methods, from high costs to slow progress.
- Automatic screening: Descartes essentially acts as a gatekeeper for the business network. As soon as new contacts are added to the Salesforce platform, they are screened and checked for compliance, and any records are kept automatically for auditing purposes.
- Continuous compliance: One feature that EDB found useful was dynamic screening. Given that sanctioned party lists change regularly, Descartes guarantees that denied party screening checks the most up-to-date lists available. It also screens continuously so that parties are checked on a regular basis.
- Fully integrated: A CRM platform like Salesforce is already in use by many organizations. Building Descartes global sanctions search into it allows for screening features to be spread across the entire company, producing a central compliance monitoring view and eliminating duplicated endeavors.
- Simple operation: A simple and intuitive user interface makes the process of conducting sanctions list screening effortless. The data insights it generates are also easy to understand and act on.
- Immediate support: If you ever have any questions or need assistance getting the most out of Descartes, the service provider offers high-quality customer service for its users. You’re never left in the dark.
Having the Descartes Salesforce sanctions screening solution in place demonstrates a commitment to compliance, for regulators, investors and internal stakeholders.
The Result: Stronger Compliance and More Efficient Operations
Movella and EDB achieved an automated compliance process that is cost-effective, resilient and future proof. Some specific benefits realized are listed below:
Stronger Compliance
A high standard of compliance is continuously maintained with fast analysis, higher accuracy, huge decrease in false positives and negatives. The auditing and reporting features mean that Movella and EDB are able to demonstrate their due diligence quickly and accurately.
Smoother Business Operations
Movella and EDB can confidently act on business development opportunities because their compliance function is supported by an automated, precise and accurate system. Based on Salesforce sanctions screening, they know which prospects to focus on, and that any threats are effectively expelled from their organization.
A Centralized, Integrated Platform
Instead of having each department focus on its own compliance policies, Descartes centralizes all screening initiatives on the Salesforce platform. This way, it’s much easier for relevant arms of the company to take action on leads, contacts and accounts as required.
The Descartes service achieves centralization through its integration support with CRM platforms like Salesforce. Users can then smooth out workflows and make compliance a more intuitive business function.
Build the Global Sanctions Search Directly into Your Workflow
What sets Descartes Visual Compliance apart from most denied party screening solutions, is its ability to work well with almost any organization’s ERP technology. Users of Salesforce or other CRM platforms will enjoy the integration benefits of adding global sanctions screening functionalities into the systems they already use in their day-to-day business operations.
Descartes specifically addresses denied party screening, automated sanctions screening, and third-party risk management, and various other tasks related to compliance with international trade regulations that have otherwise been restricted to inefficient manual workflows. With geopolitical change creating more complicated global sanctions, there’s never been a better time to use Descartes Visual Compliance Salesforce sanctions screening to improve your overall compliance performance.
Read our white paper to get more detailed information about Performing Effective and Comprehensive Denied Party Screening Within the Salesforce CRM or visit our Salesforce screening resource center.
