An earlier post touted the benefits of embedding the business justification for the use of third parties into compliance programs. This post talks about the importance of requiring the employee who prepares that business justification to be the business sponsor of that third party, a key component for weaving compliance into the fabric of everyday operations.
The business sponsor can provide the most direct means of communication to the third party and can be the point of contact for compliance issues going forward, including an annual compliance review. The use of a business sponsor has at least two drivers for the further operationalization of the compliance program. This requires not only business unit buy-in, but business unit accountability for the business relationship and puts the onus on each business stakeholder to more fully operationalize this portion of the compliance program.
