Most companies today work with multiple contractors, vendors and suppliers, with the number and complexity of those arrangements growing as the company scales.
From an insurance standpoint, each of those third parties brings their own risks, which makes tracking the details of their insurance coverage a critical piece of your risk management and mitigation strategy.
There are a number of free resources and tools businesses can use to support their internal COI tracking operations. Here are some we recommend:
Whether you're a small business owner, an insurance professional, or work with risk management, these free resources will provide invaluable support for tracking certificates of insurance efficiently.
We offer a free version of our top-tier certificate of insurance tracking software so you can set up your free account and check it out!
Key Features:
Efficiency Through OCR: OCR technology automates the process of scanning and extracting data from COIs, eliminating the need for manual data entry. This significantly reduces the time and resources required for COI tracking.
Instant Deficiency Identification: Upon upload, OCR scans instantly flag any deficiencies or discrepancies in COIs, ensuring proactive risk mitigation and compliance with contractual requirements.
Enhanced Compliance: By automating COI tracking with OCR, businesses can maintain comprehensive records and ensure compliance with regulatory standards and contractual obligations.
Customizable Alerts: Automated systems offer flexibility in setting up customizable alerts and reminders based on renewal deadlines, ensuring personalized communication tailored to individual vendor requirements.
bcs university is the latest addition to our learning resources. An ever-expanding library of quick video explainers, it’s aimed at equipping you with the knowledge you need to protect your business and manage risk. And, like the others on the list, it’s free to use.
Resources and information can only take you so far: at some point, you’ll have to start putting that learning to work and actually tracking those COIs. Here’s how you can use common tools as a free solution:
Responding to the increasing demand for efficient certificate of insurance (COI) tracking solutions, we're excited to introduce a complimentary resource aimed at enhancing your in-house COI management process. Our carefully crafted free template is tailored to simplify your COI tracking efforts. Whether you're already familiar with spreadsheet-based tracking methods or looking to explore new avenues for COI management, our template offers a user-friendly solution to streamline your operations. Click the link below to access your free template and transform your COI tracking experience!
Pros: The template above is free and comes with a built-in reports dashboard. Also, it was designed by bcs’s COI tracking experts.
Cons: While the template will work well for smaller businesses, it is not recommended for larger companies with over 100 vendors.
If you only have a few vendors to keep track of, it’s possible to do it by setting tasks or reminders within an email provider. Both Gmail and Outlook, for example, have task features that allow users to set reminders and assign dates, which can be useful for scheduling check-ins as existing insurance documentation approaches expiration.
Pros: Free. Puts everything into one place.
Cons: Manual. Volume of work increases as you add vendors. No easy dashboard access or ability to share data across teams.
If you use Quickbooks for your business finances, it is theoretically possible to use it to track COI status for your vendors as well. For a breakdown on how to approach this, check out this post in Quickbooks’ support section.
Pros: If you’re already using Quickbooks regularly, and have the appropriate type of account, it’s free to do, and can be added to your Quickbooks dashboard.
Cons: As with the email options, this is largely a manual process, and is more of a “workaround” rather than a true “COI solution."
When it comes to tracking Certificates of Insurance (COIs), businesses typically consider two approaches: handling it internally or outsourcing the process to a specialist or a COI tracking company.
While in-house tracking can reduce the need for working with third party companies and solutions, it can also be time-consuming, and increases in complexity with every new contractor or supplier you work with. As such, in-house tracking tends to be most practical for smaller companies with a handful of vendors.
As your business grows, the ability to manage certificate of insurance tracking in-house becomes more difficult; eventually it requires dedicated personnel with sufficient insurance expertise to be able to not just track but review and correct documents to ensure that your company is properly protected.
As both size and the need for expertise increase, most in-house COI tracking solutions struggle to scale with a company’s growth. At that point, it may make sense--and often even be more cost-efficient--to switch to a certificate of insurance tracking solution supported by a dedicated team of professionals.
If you’ve reviewed the options above and aren’t sure which path is right for you, feel free to take a look at this article on what to look for and what questions to ask when thinking about choosing an outsourced COI tracking solution.
The most important thing to know:
Naturally, businesses will always seek to reduce expenses where they can, leading many to explore the possibility of tracking their certificates of insurance for free by doing it in-house. What’s important to note, though, is that there is always a cost associated with COI tracking, even when done in-house. Doing so requires the time of one or more team members, which equates to internal resources and possible attention taken away from revenue-driving activities. Such tasks will also only become more time consuming as the business grows and works with more vendors. In other words, no system for tracking COIs is truly free.