Why this matters

Every facility with outside vendors — a landscaping crew, a copier technician, a company with server-room access — eventually runs into a question no one wrote an answer down for: who decided this vendor was trustworthy enough to be on the approved list, and what did we require of them before we said yes?

Vendor Security is the upstream program that makes that decision on purpose. Visitor Management handles the front door well — badges, escorts, sign-in — but without a vendor security program feeding it, who belongs on the approved list stays an undocumented, inconsistent call.