Every supplier verified.Every change controlled.
Payments depend on the supplier records behind them. But most supplier data was collected at onboarding and hasn't been checked since. Bank details change, contacts move on, documents expire, and the record stays the same. SoftCo Supplier Lifecycle Management gives finance teams a governed process for collecting, verifying, and maintaining supplier data across its full lifecycle.
countries with IBAN verification
full audit trail across every action
independently audited security certifications
Featured in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for AP Automation
The risk isn’t suppliers you know. It’s the data you haven’t checked.
Supplier fraud costs are climbing. The median loss per AP fraud case now sits at $120,000 (ACFE, 2024). But most exposure doesn't come from sophisticated attacks. It comes from the basics: bank details copied from an email, onboarding forms that nobody verifies, and suppliers trading before they're properly approved.
Manual data collection
Bank details arrive by email. Supplier information lives in shared spreadsheets. Someone copies it into the ERP manually. There's no structure, no control, and no way to know if something was missed.
Unverified supplier data
A supplier submits bank details. Your team accepts them. But does that account actually belong to that supplier? Without verification, you're trusting whatever is submitted and exposing every payment to risk.
Compliance gaps
No record of who captured the data, who approved it, or when. When auditors ask how you validated a supplier's bank details before payment, the answer shouldn't be "we checked the email."
Slow onboarding
Weeks of back-and-forth before a supplier is approved. Meanwhile, invoices arrive, work starts, and finance is left approving retrospectively. The process that's supposed to prevent risk becomes the bottleneck that creates it.
Collect it. Verify it. Then approve it.
Most supplier portals collect information. SoftCo verifies it. Before bank details reach your ERP, SoftCo checks the account is real, active, and owned by the supplier who submitted it. Bank account ownership verification in 11 countries. IBAN validation across 89. US tax ID checks against the IRS database. Verification runs during approval. Results are cached for reviewers, with configurable expiry so checks stay current. Rejected and resubmitted requests are reverified. Your team can trigger a manual check at any point. Without verification, you’re just collecting data and hoping it’s right.
One governed process across the full supplier lifecycle
SoftCo Supplier Lifecycle Management covers more than onboarding. It provides a structured, audited process for every stage of the supplier relationship: bringing new suppliers in, maintaining records as things change, verifying that information stays current, and retiring suppliers when they're no longer active.
Each stage follows a governed process with configurable steps, approvals, and verification. Every action is audited.
- 01
Onboard
Bring new suppliers through a structured, verified process. Collect the right information, check it against official sources, and approve a complete record before it reaches your ERP.
- 02
Verify
Confirm that supplier identity, tax, and banking details are supported by evidence. Verification runs as part of the process, not as an afterthought.
- 03
Control
Changes to payment-critical data follow a governed path. Independent verification, separated approval, and a clear record of who changed what and when.
- 04
Monitor
Track document expiries, flag data changes, and surface records that need attention. The supplier record doesn't go silent after approval.
- 05
Re-verify
Refresh verification at policy intervals or when something changes. Supplier data stays current because the process requires it, not because someone remembers to check.
Configurable to how your organisation works
Every organisation has different policies, risk thresholds, and compliance requirements. SoftCo Supplier Lifecycle Management is configurable to match them.
Conditional logic adapts the process based on the answers given. High spend triggers additional questions. Supplier location routes to the right approver. Fields appear, hide, or become mandatory based on what's submitted.
Configuration is a one-time setup. Once your rules are defined, the process applies them consistently. Updates are versioned so existing validations are protected when changes are made.
A clearer way to think about supplier control
SoftCo's Supplier Control Framework sets out what good looks like for managing supplier data across its lifecycle. Published by our Chief Knowledge Officer, it covers the principles, the patterns that weaken controls, and a practical model for where controls should sit.
- Framework
Seven principles of a controlled supplier lifecycle
A practical framework for understanding what good supplier data governance looks like.
Read more - Patterns
Five patterns that weaken supplier controls
The gaps that allow supplier data to drift, controls to age and risk to go unnoticed.
Read more - Controls
Six types of control across the supplier lifecycle
A guide to where controls should prevent, detect and correct problems.
Read more
Supplier data you can trust, connected to where it matters
SoftCo Supplier Lifecycle Management works as a standalone solution or as part of the wider SoftCo platform. When connected, verified supplier data flows into your AP automation and P2P workflows without re-keying or reconciliation. Your ERP stays the source of truth. SLM captures and verifies the data; your ERP stores it.
Verified data, ready for your ERP
Supplier information verified in SLM passes to your ERP clean and structured. No manual re-entry.
Full API for ERP integration
Pull approved supplier data into your ERP. Trigger workflows. Sync supplier numbers.
Compliance-ready from day one
Every action in SLM is logged: who uploaded what, when it was approved, and why. SOC 2 Type II certified. ISO 27001 certified. NIS2 and DORA compliant.
White-labelled supplier portal
Your logo. Your email templates. Your domain. Suppliers see your organisation, not ours. If a supplier works with more than one SoftCo customer, they use the same login across all of them.
Frequently askedquestions
No. Your ERP remains the source of truth for supplier data. SLM captures, verifies, and governs supplier information through a structured process. Once approved, your ERP pulls the data in. SLM doesn't push data outward.
SLM provides a full set of APIs that your ERP can use to trigger workflows, pull approved supplier data, and sync supplier numbers.
IBAN validation is available across 89 countries. Bank account ownership verification is available in 11 countries. US tax ID checks run against the IRS database.
Suppliers receive an invitation to a secure portal where they complete their profile and submit required documents. No separate account creation is needed outside of this process.
SoftCo SLM is configurable to your organisation's policies, risk thresholds, and compliance requirements. Configuration is set up once and then applies consistently. Updates are versioned to protect existing validations.
Yes. SoftCo Supplier Lifecycle Management works as a standalone solution. It doesn't require SoftCo AP or P2P to be in place. When used together, verified supplier data flows directly into AP and P2P workflows.
See how SLM handles supplier onboarding
Verified data. Governed workflows. Connected to your AP and P2P ecosystem, or deployed standalone.
Trusted by finance teams. Recognised by analysts.
