Supplier Risk Automation: 5 Powerful Ways ELIE Transforms Procurement

Supplier Risk Automation is the difference between chasing answers for weeks and turning around responses in hours. Just imagine it is 8:32am on a Tuesday morning. You are halfway through your first coffee when your procurement manager, Sarah, walks into your office. She is carrying a file that looks more like a small novel than a document.

“New supplier security questionnaire just landed,” she says, setting it on your desk. Fourteen pages. One hundred and twenty questions. Some require a simple yes or no. Others demand long explanations. Several want detailed listings of every security certification your organisation holds, complete with dates, scope, and links to evidence.

You flick through the pages. Encryption protocols. Incident response procedures. Data retention policies. Business continuity plans. Supplier vetting processes. You know this will require input from IT, Compliance, Legal, Operations, and perhaps even HR.

There is a deadline of two weeks. From experience, you know that without a miracle it will take the full two weeks and multiple rounds of chasing to complete.

Now imagine sending the completed questionnaire back the same day it arrived. That is the power of supplier risk automation.

Why Manual Supplier Risk Automation Takes Too Long

Supplier security questionnaires are a standard part of procurement due diligence, but they are rarely handled efficiently. Without supplier risk automation, organisations face:

• Every questionnaire arriving in a different format and layout
• Information scattered across multiple systems and departments
• Teams repeatedly answering the same questions in inconsistent ways
• Time wasted formatting answers into the supplier’s preferred template

The result is onboarding delays, missed project deadlines, and frustration for both buyer and supplier.

The Hidden Cost of Slow Supplier Onboarding

A global operations study by PwC found that slow supplier onboarding delays projects by 20–30 percent. For large organisations, this can mean millions in lost revenue and wasted resources each year.

Beyond the financial impact, the reputational cost is significant. A supplier who experiences delays during onboarding may question your ability to deliver efficiently once the contract starts. In some cases, they may even prioritise other customers.

How askelie Delivers Supplier Risk Automation

askTARA streamlines supplier questionnaire completion into a fast, repeatable, and accurate process. With supplier risk automation, procurement teams no longer spend weeks chasing answers. Instead, questionnaires can be completed in hours.

1. Centralised answer library – ELIE stores pre-approved responses to common questions, version-controlled for accuracy.
2. Intelligent question matching – Natural language understanding maps supplier questions to the right stored answers.
3. Gap identification – Missing or unusual questions are flagged instantly for expert review.
4. Instant formatting – Completed questionnaires are returned in the supplier’s original format, from Word and Excel to PDF or web portals.
5. Full audit logging – Every step is tracked to show who approved each answer and when.

Real-World Example of Supplier Risk Automation

A UK telecommunications provider was onboarding a high-value infrastructure supplier. Their 150-question security form previously took four weeks to complete.

With ELIE:

• The questionnaire was matched to existing answers in under 30 minutes
• Only nine questions required human review
• The full response was returned to the supplier the same afternoon

The supplier commented that the client was “by far the fastest to return documentation in our experience.” This speed helped set a positive tone for the entire relationship.

ROI of Supplier Risk Automation

Organisations using ELIE for supplier risk automation typically see:

• 90% faster questionnaire turnaround times
• Consistent and compliant answers every time
• Earlier project starts and accelerated revenue recognition
• Stronger supplier relationships due to smoother onboarding

Why Procurement Leaders Value ELIE

Procurement leaders value ELIE for reducing administrative overhead, enforcing answer consistency, and ensuring compliance documentation is always ready. Faster onboarding means projects start sooner, creating immediate business value.

Supplier Risk Automation Benefits with ELIE

The benefits of supplier risk automation extend far beyond procurement:

• Project managers begin work sooner
• Finance processes invoices without delay
• Operations integrate suppliers faster
• Skilled staff focus on strategic sourcing instead of repetitive admin

Beyond Procurement

The same ELIE functionality that powers supplier risk automation can also support:

• Client security due diligence forms
• Internal risk assessment templates
• Regulatory compliance submissions

By building a single, strong knowledge base, organisations can reuse responses across multiple functions, multiplying the time savings.

The Bigger Picture

This is Day 3 of the Just Imagine with ELIE series. Across each day we’ve seen how automation transforms not just speed, but quality and compliance. With supplier risk automation, procurement teams can finally move at the pace of business.

Tomorrow, in Day 4, we’ll show how ELIE takes the repetitive manual work out of Accounts Payable with automated invoice processing, so finance teams can focus on strategic value creation.