What Does In-House Vendor Management Look Like? And How Do We Do It?

We’re a bit of a one-off at VoiceBox.  

Now, we don’t mean that as a humble brag (albeit we are very good at providing the services we do). We mean in the sense that we offer in-house vendor management.  

In-house vendor management (VM) refers to the team that works within a company and sources, vets and onboards the people who contribute to projects and services. 

For the media accessibility world, that looks like finding and managing stenographers for live captions, audio describers for audio description, voice artists for voice over projects, and so on. 

Typically, in our industry, vendor management is outsourced. Our ability to provide this in-house is very rare. 

For our clients and potential clients to better understand it, we wanted to explain it in more detail. 

So, in this blog, read on to find out: 

• In-house vendor management vs outsourced vendor management 
• The exact process our team goes through 
• Which services we use in-house vendor management for 

Let’s dive in! 

In-house vendor management vs outsourced vendor management 

In-house vendor management involves liaising with your colleagues to find the right fit. Outsourcing uses external VM suppliers to find the talent needed for projects. 

We believe that by providing in-house vendor management at VoiceBox, we can find the best fit for clients and communicate as to who may be the right fit, with great speed and efficiency. 

Because our VM team works with our project managers, we can confirm suitable talent in a flash. 

That’s because if someone isn’t the right fit, we simply communicate it internally. And if they are, they can smoothly be moved to the next step and supply the job. No delays for the client. 

Additionally, any issues with vendors can be communicated quickly to us. 

Whereas with outsourced vendor management, although it can lower costs for companies when they aren’t as busy, communication can take longer and be less smooth. 

The consistency of our work means that in-house VM suits us best.  

Head of VoiceBox, Sophie Muller, said: “It’s very rare to find in-house vendor management in this space and we believe it gives us an edge.  

“By speeding up communication and being on the same page as our VM team, our clients benefit by getting the best quality talent suited to their project with the speed to match it. 

“It’s one of our unique selling points at VoiceBox. Where else can you find a media localisation accessibility company with dedicated project management, in-house vendor management and a fully honest and transparent approach?” 

What’s the exact process our team would go through? 

This can depend on the request and project size, but using a voice over example, this is generally how it works: 

1. A request comes in for a job requiring specific voices for a voice over project. 
2. Teams work together to find the voices needed (could be someone VoiceBox has previously worked with or someone new).
3. Teams review the details, vet them and listen to demos.
4. Talent is selected.
5. The talent is briefed on the project and records the material in this case.
6. VoiceBox receives the material, does QA, ensures accessibility and sends files to clients.

If it’s a smaller job, we know from our experience (founded in 2014) that we can rely on renowned voice over artists that we have worked with for years if they are the right fit for the job.

Additionally, if it’s a big scale project, we may need to recruit new, quality voices. 

Which services do we use in-house vendor management for? 

Most of them!  

We will use our in-house VM to help find: 

• Voice over artists 
• Stenographers 
• Respeakers 
• Audio describers 
• Subtitlers 
• Translators  
• Interpreters 
• And more! 

Conclusion 

If you were confused about in-house vendor management before or just wanted to understand it better, we hope this blog has helped. 

To find out more about how our in-house vendor management can support your project, contact us today. 

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