Simplify Compliance Due Diligence with Automated Salesforce Sanctions Screening

Regulatory compliance has always been a high priority for business management teams. Denied party screening which involves performing global sanctions search on denied parties lists, specifically addresses third-party businesses and individuals that an organization is not permitted to work with. This compliance risk shapes company policies on how business relationships are formed and managed, from onboarding leads, contacts, and accounts to securing new hires and suppliers.

However, as new regulations quickly emerge, and new entities are added to these denied parties lists, it can be difficult for companies to keep up, especially if they continue to use manual processes to address their global sanctions screening responsibilities. Some business owners even see compliance as an impediment to operations since manual methods are resource-intensive, requiring both huge amounts of time and personnel.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. To achieve high standards of compliance without unsustainably increasing spending on resources, such as adding more personnel with the hopes of increasing efficiency, organizations need to pivot to a technology-fueled sanctions list screening system. An automated system is able to deliver the capabilities that will optimize the compliance process to match the current pace of escalating sanctions risks.

Movella, a 3D motion tracking manufacturer, and EDB, a software solutions provider, have successfully taken an innovation-driven approach to their compliance transformation, by moving away from manual processes to integrating Salesforce sanctions screening into their due diligence operations. This robust compliance software solution has enabled both organizations to effectively meet the denied party screening competencies required in a rapidly-shifting regulatory landscape.

Working or trading with a sanctioned party puts your organization at risk and with escalating sanctions volatility, many businesses are easily vulnerable to compliance violations. In response to ongoing geopolitical tensions, regulatory enforcement has intensified over the past 6 months. It is expected that penalties will continue to rise, making it crucial for organizations of all sizes to have a sanctions list screening procedure that complies with the guidelines set forth by regulators such as OFAC.

Global sanctions screening refers to the activities carried out by an organization to detect and disrupt sanctions-related risks by searching global denied parties lists for matches against their internal data which includes information on business partners, customers, and employees. For global sanctions search to be performed successfully, it requires accurate and comprehensive internal data, and the mechanism / technology to identify and promptly notify the right personnel of potential matches on a timely and ongoing basis.

Sanctions list screening are typically performed using these control frameworks:

1. Manually entering names into a sanctions-check tool and searching against restricted party lists
2. Periodic bulk searches on customers, contracted businesses, and employee records
3. Automatically screening customers, employees, business partners, and all stakeholder’s databases constantly

Given the critical role that sanctions play in an organization's ability to operate confidently, the prevalent risks as well as the immeasurable impact of civil, criminal, and reputational damage incurred through violations, it is crucial that the global sanctions screening procedures utilized can deliver proactive monitoring, discovery, and alert capabilities.

Because screening is applied to your customers, partners, and employees, it directly impacts the efficiency of business practices and internal operations including sales, human resources, and business development. If your global sanctions search relies on manual screening or legacy systems incapable of handling large data volumes and complex sanctions regulations, then expect to experience reduced sales velocity, lack of confidence in decision making and conflicts with your business partners, unsatisfactory customer experience, regular delays during onboarding of new hires, and increased exposure to compliance risks.

As organizations that operate globally, Movella and EDB, were constantly creating new connections with businesses, consumers, and workforces from around the world, all of which heightened the possibility of working with denied parties. They found that sanctions list screening was taking up too much time and effort, cutting into productivity, revenue, and growth objectives. The sales team, for instance, would expend effort converting a lead into an opportunity, only to have its time wasted when that customer is later identified as a restricted entity.

The manual screening method employed not only required significant manpower to sustain, but it also generated “false positives” where non-sanctioned entities were erroneously flagged and “false negatives” where denied entities could potentially sneak into their operations due to screening gaps. To remove the obstacles, establish an effective sanctions check, and reduce their compliance workload, both organizations recognized that they needed to rely on a competent global sanctions screening software with a proven track record.

Movella and EDB, implemented the Salesforce Sanctions Screening solution to reinforce their compliance management function. By combining the comprehensive data captured in their Salesforce CRM platform with the advanced denied party screening features of Descartes Visual Compliance software, they now had a more efficient way to dynamically screen all leads, contacts, and accounts within their business network, before and after establishing a relationship.

As optimizing their compliance methods was a top priority for Movella and EDB, Descartes simplified the denied party screening procedures of both organizations by leveraging integration opportunities within their existing Salesforce platform to quickly provide a complete range of robust screening services supported by cutting-edge technology, these include:

• Full Integration Support: By building Descartes into the customer relationship management system, companies can apply a more rounded approach to their compliance function and derive extensive use of their existing data to accelerate screening functionality across the entire organization along with all its subdivisions, departments, and locations. The solution has a short time to implement, meaning that organizations are up and running quickly.
• Comprehensive Data Processing: Salesforce supports the collection of multi-dimensional data of entities, and Descartes' Visual Compliance system enriches the data with additional information it has from compliance operations thus improving the quality, accuracy, and relevance of screened data.
• Robust Automatic Screening: Immediately as new leads, contacts, and accounts are added to Salesforce, they are efficiently and effortlessly screened by Descartes Visual Compliance so that no barred parties are permitted into the system. The software is able to process large volumes of data and scale with your business. Supported by innovative technologies, the system offers features for you to fine-tune search parameters that align with your organization’s compliance policy. Records of all screening activities performed are stored for auditing purposes.
• Fast Dynamic screening: The system can continuously screen at multiple points across the organization, identifying when entities have been added to or removed from sanctions lists which are changes that regulators are known to make on a day-to-day basis. Given that working with one entity might be legal today but not tomorrow, dynamic screening is an invaluable feature for many organizations. For EDB, this is a key functionality they enjoy with Salesforce Sanctions Screening. Descartes maintains a broad sanctions list database that keeps up with rapid changes.
• Unified and Updated Sanctions List: The Descartes Visual Compliance software provides consolidated, standardized and up-to-date lists of the multitude of sanctions from all the major issuing bodies. This is particularly important because these lists are frequently amended and do not always align. For example, an entity may have been removed from one denied parties list but still sanctioned by a different regulator. There are also additional identifiers of restricted parties which may not be explicit in the public lists such as the requirements to stay compliant of OFAC’s 50 percent rule. New qualified sources of sanctions lists are added regularly.
• Ease of Use: The simple GUI of the screening solution eliminates the cumbersome experience of manual processes making it easy to interact with, meaning that compliance officers are apt to use it frequently. Additionally, it is easy to train new hires and get them active on the platform in a short time. The global sanctions search results provided by the system are both detailed and straightforward to understand, which makes it easy to act on the insights generated.
• Excellent Customer Support: Always ready to help, the high-quality customer service provided by Descartes ensures that value is derived from the use of the solution. Frequent training sessions are conducted to cover any skills gap as well as demonstrate new functionalities that are added to proactively respond to changing industry requirements. As the Director of Operations at Movella stated, Descartes proved to be “prompt to respond to our questions and make sure we are getting the most out of our subscription.”

Adopting a high-performing compliance software like Descartes Salesforce Sanctions Screening shows that you are committed to safeguarding your organization from compliance violations and getting ahead of intensifying stringent sanctions, which is a positive sign whenever you want to demonstrate your compliance to regulatory authorities.

In the face of complex evolving regulations, Movella and EDB responded to the challenges of maintaining a continuous state of optimal compliance and operational inefficiencies by implementing Descartes Salesforce sanctions screening solutions. These solutions created a significantly more efficient and effective screening process, reducing risk and generating cost savings for both organizations. Additional benefits include:

• Enhanced compliance: Without undermining business operations, the system performs continuous sanctions list screening, delivering reduced false positives and consistent accuracy. This unparalleled due diligence ensures that the risk of penalties, fines, and reputation damage due to non-compliance is mitigated.
• Centralized operations: Businesses that try to perform compliance tasks manually ultimately end up with several disparate departments doing it by themselves rather than using a more efficient centralized platform. Descartes when integrated with salesforce streamlines the compliance effort and provides a single complete view to effectively prevent, detect, and respond to potential bad actors. For instance, upper management can view a single interface to see all the results of recent screenings and take action accordingly.
• Increased sales velocity: Automated screening also runs “in the background.” Restricted clients and partners are excluded early on before internal staff need to worry about them, eliminating time wasted on opportunities that cannot legally be consummated and accelerating order to cash timelines.
• More cohesive integrations: Descartes' integration with Salesforce allows for new functionality, ranging from smoother task workflows, notification systems, and an overall more intuitive solution that is quick to deploy, easy to customize, and simple to use.

With system effectiveness achieved from a robust denied party screening solution, the compliance function has transformed from a business impediment to a business enabler. Weeding out restricted parties from the network early on encourages quick decision-making at the management level and fosters faster collaboration amongst departments which speeds up operations. Having compliance concerns out of the way, internal teams can focus on what matters, like generating sales, forming strategic partnerships, and expanding operations internationally.

Interested in reaping these benefits for yourself? Descartes works well with any business’ Electronic Resource Planning (ERP) or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology. If you use a CRM platform like Salesforce, you’ll find plenty of ways to take advantage of automated denied party screening for a more robust compliance process.

If you’re expanding your operations internationally but suffer from inefficient screening, export compliance, or any other similar process, contact us at Descartes to see how our solutions can help you strengthen your compliance function.

Read our white paper to get more detailed information about performing Effective and Comprehensive Denied Party Screening within the Salesforce CRM or visit our Salesforce screening resource center.

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