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Businesses continue to increase their dependency on outsourcing to improve productivity, streamline processes and achieve efficiencies. Yet contracting with third-parties to provide specific back-office or knowledge-based services can be challenging...

While preparing to onboard a new customer, it became apparent that there was a need to better explain the complexities of how certificates of insurance are tracked and managed.

One of the most common strategies of risk management is through the imposition of insurance requirements on third-party contractual relationships, such as with tenants, vendors, suppliers and contractors.

It’s impossible to pick up an insurance magazine, online or in print, and not find it filled with articles on the challenge of protecting the public’s Personally Identifiable Information (PII).

At the annual RIMS conference held in San Antonio this past week, insurance broker giant Marsh announced it will begin testing the use of blockchain technology later this year with its client, ISN.

We know of a situation where a large retail chain was unable to determine whether the company it had hired to track certificate of insurances was doing its job.

Did you just hear that loud crunching noise? That was the sound of another Chief Security Officer clamping down on the security protocols of its vendors.

It is not surprising you may wish to consider off-loading the task of insurance compliance verification and management. The work is challenging, never-ending and thankless.

As we all have learned - often the hard way - things aren't always what they seem. In other words, perception isn't always reality. In fact, sometimes it can be just the opposite.

The importance of ensuring tenant/vendor insurance coverages are in alignment with the contract cannot be overstated. Failure to properly manage this essential component of risk management can result in claims liability reverting back to you instead of the other way around.

Remember Maslow's hierarchy of needs? That was from the psychology course you skipped over, the one where the most basic and important human needs are at the top of the pyramid and less important needs follow below.

A succession of technical advances is propelling the insurance industry into a new era at a rate faster than can be understood, much less absorbed, in an orderly way.

In the world of service providers who track and manage certificates of insurance on behalf of others, it is commonly held that more than 70% of COIs do not meet the insurance coverage requirements stipulated in the contract.

General Data Protection Regulation. Raise your hand if you've even heard of it. Don't feel badly, a recent survey indicates less than 50% of businesses that will be affected by it are even aware of its existence.

Having previously posted "Four Things to Know About Certificates of Insurance," I'd like to offer four more best practices to consider:

It is natural, some might even argue necessary, to think of ourselves as primary, as number one, both in our personal and professional relationships. But where do you stand in your insurance relationships?

Third-party risk is the cause of much unease, not only to the risk manager but in the C-suite and the boardroom. And no wonder...

Here's a seemingly simple question – Is risk good or bad?

The smooth and orderly movement of goods and services from inception to end point is an integral part of business success.

Every week we cajole, lecture (and perhaps sometimes gently badger) you, our loyal readers, with an endless variety of instructions ...

Relationships between the organization and third-party service providers are commonly decentralized and are typically formed on an ad-hoc, as-needed basis.

We all know the challenges of tracking certificates of insurance and maintaining proper coverage compliance – lots of moving parts, technically complex, not enough resources, not enough knowledge, or time, and so on. But wait a minute. At the end of the day, are these reasons or excuses? Is something else going on?

Regardless of the nature of the exposure from any third-party risk, the even larger risk of brand damage is ever present - and it can happen in an instant. Like raising your children, you cannot afford to blink.

John Donne may have been onto something when he observed "no man is an island entire of itself" but...

Whether you are focused on improving vendor risk management practices, tracking certificates of insurance or coping with the burgeoning requirements of GRC...

One day, you're asked to provide a Certificate of Insurance (COI) to someone with whom you're doing business. The next day, you request a COI from another business.

The statistic is disturbing – 32 deaths in as many months in New York City related to construction worker injuries or falls from buildings.

One of the most fundamental goals of any risk management program is to control risk through transference of liability away from you and onto another entity.

A great deal of emphasis is placed on the need to collect, verify and track certificates of insurance in order to reduce risk associated with the actions of third-parties.

It is ironic that there was an insurance industry conference held in Las Vegas this past week, one that began less than a day after the horror that occurred two miles south of where we convened.

For those investors and visionaries with their sights on tomorrow, look no further than the burgeoning field of tech startups focused on making over one of the last major holdouts to embrace 21st century innovation and imagination.

Harvey. Irma. Maria. Three names that strike dread in the minds of too many risk managers.

Cybersecurity is top of mind for a lot of people this week, not least the 143 million Americans affected by the massive Equifax breach of their personal information.

Companies spend millions of dollars on professional fees drafting contracts for tenants and vendors. Virtually all of them contain language specifically related to the type and extent of insurance coverage required. The deal is signed, the work begun (or the tenant moves in) and then...what? Did anyone bother to check if the terms of the agreement were actually met?

Sometimes attorneys are expected to be all things to all people. As stalwarts for protecting clients, they often are expected to have uncanny knowledge of other industries such as property and casualty insurance. This is no easy feat...

You can't always get what you want, but when it comes to proper insurance you better get what you need. OK, they really didn't sing that, but it was heard in Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson's courtroom. Ruling on a motion to dismiss, the Chief Judge of Indiana's Southern District reminded all parties to the action of this fact, and in a moment of legal levity incorporated the band's song lyrics into her ruling.

We tend to naturally avoid, or at least delay, doing those things we would rather not, and the process of creating and managing an insurance compliance program might certainly be one example looked upon with fear and loathing by risk managers.

Whether you're leasing property, hiring a contractor or signing on a new vendor, there are basically three "insurance" components that come into play:

If interest in insurance technology (InsureTech) is a hot topic, no area of it is hotter than the rapidly burgeoning interest in the application of blockchain technology to the insurance industry at large.

As any manager can tell you, it's not just government that has budgetary constraints imposed on purchases. And as important as it is to verify insurance compliance of your tenants, vendors and suppliers, it doesn't come free.

It goes almost without saying that handling requests related to certificates of insurance (COIs) are a vexing task for the insurance agency.

The choice of documentation available to the risk manager to ascertain insurance coverage represented by contractors, vendors or tenants (the Insured) is considerable. It can range from requesting a certificate of insurance to collection of the actual insurance policy of the Insured.

I swear this is true: A friend of mine is an environmental engineer. His firm specializes in cleaning up contaminated land. Long ago his company worked with a prominent college. It seems their Physics department had the bad habit of tossing leftover radioactive material out the laboratory window where it ended up in a garden below.

Yes, you read it right. First there was Software-as-a-Service (the ubiquitous "SaaS" now part of the vocabulary of every tech startup), then Platform-as-a-Service (think Salesforce) and now, not illogically, we have ...

We were talking a few days ago with the risk manager of a large national developer. He told us his vendor insurance compliance rate was 97% but that senior management of the company demanded 100%.

Companies often face a dilemma when relocating, merging or closing: after years in business, insurance records can amass and nobody seems to know what to keep and what to toss. Next thing you know everything's going in the shredder...

Attention risk managers – do you still think you can dodge the cyber bullet?

Last week's ransom attack on 200,000 computers in 70 countries using malicious code gleaned from the stolen records of the U.S. National Security Agency and posted online for all the bad guys to use should leave no doubt that we are truly at the end of any remaining illusions about personal or corporate data security.

It is more common than not that those who choose to track Certificates of Insurance (COI) themselves have a harder time of it than those who do it professionally, such as with an outsourced tracking service. There are a lot of reasons for this condition – lack of time, resources and knowledge are leading causes. Nevertheless, both the pros and those who manage COIs in-house have similar needs when it comes to finding ways to make the process go smoother and with greater accuracy.

Archive. Even the word sounds old, conjuring up an image of dusty bins of old papers consigned to the graveyard of past events. Archives are accumulations of history, source documents of potentially enduring cultural or evidentiary value. They are also a challenge to define and manage.

If you had a super power what would it be? Last week the nation celebrated Super Power Day. As many people reflected on the question and debated whether it would be better to have supernatural powers or the ability to fly, I was thinking back to when Certificates of Insurance had super powers - Notice of Cancellation super powers.

Those who attend insurance industry trade shows cannot but be struck by the near-breathtaking pace of technologic innovation on display. For example, one entire industry sector – personal lines – is being relentlessly savaged by tech startups (including newly-formed special purpose carriers) with the net result of efficiencies and significant economics for purchasers of home, life and auto coverage gained through disintermediation (no more middleman brokers), cloud and telematics. Need I add all this can be done on your smartphone? Of course. And this is just the beginning...

It's harder than you think. And the consequences of not doing it correctly can be significant. Inefficiencies in COI collection, processing and monitoring can lead to huge risk exposures that can quickly translate to costly claims, litigation and possible catastrophe. Be honest with yourself and answer the following questions:

Following further with our discussion of what certificates of insurance actually are - and are not - the next misconception to dispel is the view of some that a certificate of insurance is somehow proof of compliance.

Much has been made of the limitations of certificates of insurance, the common refrain being they don't offer proof of insurance. The fact that this was never the intent of the COI document has been examined in prior discussion and need not bear repetition. But the observation does beg a larger question – what document(s) do we require in order to actually obtain that proof?

First, let's take this quiz. Which do you hate more?

• April 15th
• The dentist
• Certificates of Insurance

Here are five benefits derived from tracking certificates of insurance:

When it comes to double-dipping, most people think of ice cream. However, there's another, much less pleasant kind that relates to an employee injured on the job who collects workers' compensation and then sues a third party for contributing to the employee's injury.

Determining the appropriate level of insurance requirements to include in the contract can be a vexing task. In this article we discuss some key issues and show examples of actual insurance requirements in use for a variety of risk types.

Although almost all U.S. states now have laws on their books regulating the issuance of Certificates of Insurance, problems continue to plague the process and fraud remains a major concern.

There are a lot of things that can go wrong when dealing with certificates of insurance (COIs). Mistakes are made, things fall through the crack and some important details are completely overlooked. The checklist below covers the most common problems found in issuance, collection, evaluation, notification and monitoring of COIs.

Yes, it can be done, but like all complex processes it requires discipline, attention to detail, and consistency.

We take the ACORD form for granted, we see hundreds every day, but many people find the whole certificate of insurance process confusing. Here's a few questions we get asked all the time:

Once we finally receive the much sought after Certificate of Insurance and place it in our electronic folder we sigh with relief. Well not so fast...

There are numerous topics of discussion available on the internet pertaining to certificates of insurance (COI). However, there is very little information regarding the management of certificates of insurance and other related insurance documents.

Facts:On June 16, 2016, the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Indiana affirmed the general rule that certificates of insurance cannot alter the terms of a policy.