COI Tracking Software for Small Businesses
When one owner or office manager handles vendor insurance, the first problem is usually scattered documents and forgotten follow-up. Certy provides a vendor list, private certificate upload links, AI-assisted field reading and renewal reminders. It works best when the account’s vendors share one insurance requirement baseline. You still review the extracted information and resolve policy questions with the broker.
A familiar handoff
For example, an office manager tracks twenty service vendors in a spreadsheet. Certificates sit in several email threads, and an expiration is discovered only when a contractor is due on site. Moving the active list and current documents into one process makes the next request easier to assign and follow.
Clean the list before moving it
Start with businesses you still hire. Confirm each legal name, contact email and current certificate, and remove duplicate records. Keep the old spreadsheet as a migration reference rather than importing every historic supplier blindly. Certy supports CSV vendor import, so a cleaned roster can become the working list while the responsible person reconciles the first batch of documents.
Agree a baseline with the broker
Use the signed vendor agreement and broker guidance to set the account requirements for limits, dates and relevant certificate indicators. Do not create new insurance obligations solely to fill software fields. If a particular job needs a different program, keep that review separate: one account requirement set does not mean every vendor or contract should have identical risk treatment.
Make the next request straightforward
Send a vendor its private upload link rather than asking it to create a portal account. Uploads can be PDFs or phone photos. Review the extracted insurer, limits and dates, correct mistakes, and request missing supporting documents when needed. The process should make the office manager’s decision clearer; it does not turn AI reading into a guarantee of policy validity or coverage.
Replace calendar chasing with assigned review
Certy can send renewal reminders 30, 14 and 7 days before policy expiration, then follow missing or noncompliant records. The office manager still needs to review responses and decide when to escalate. Export vendor records for business recordkeeping and preserve exceptions with the contracts. Start with a few active vendors and reconcile the results before relying on the full imported list.
Prepare these records
- A cleaned active-vendor list with legal names and insurance contacts.
- The insurance clause agreed in the vendor contract.
- Current liability and applicable employee coverage certificates.
- Supporting endorsements requested by the broker or contract.
- Documented exceptions and a retained migration reference.
Where Certy fits
Certy is paid software, with published plans starting at $49 per month; it has no free tracking tier. The public checker is free. It does not include multiple-user permission controls, integrations or project-specific requirement sets. Try one certificate in the free checker, then compare the plans and account baseline with the actual size of your vendor list.
Certy’s paid plans include certificate tracking. Free tools are available separately without signup; there is no free account tier. Review the current plan limits before importing your vendor list.