Best Third Party And Supplier Risk Management Software
Discover the best supplier risk management software. Explore features such as supplier data aggregation, risk monitoring, and risk analysis.
Written by
Caitlin Harris
Technical Review by
Laura Iannini
Quick Summary
For enterprises managing third-party risk at scale, Mitratech Prevalent covers the full vendor lifecycle with continuous monitoring and AI-assisted assessments. Archer Integrated Risk Management Platform consolidates governance, compliance, and vendor oversight for complex programs. BitSight Security Ratings is the pick for teams wanting objective, continuous monitoring without chasing questionnaires. For mid-sized organizations in regulated industries, LogicManager Vendor Management System delivers quantitative risk scoring with automated workflows. OneTrust Vendorpedia For Enterprises cuts assessment overhead with its pre-completed risk exchange and automated scoring. SecurityScorecard Third-Party Risk Management provides letter-based external ratings for data-driven vendor risk visibility.
Third-party and supplier risk sits at the intersection of procurement, compliance, and security. Your vendors can become your biggest vulnerability. A breach at a supplier, a compliance miss by a service provider, or financial instability at a critical vendor becomes your problem. The challenge is that managing third-party risk traditionally means endless vendor questionnaires, alongside spreadsheets tracking assessments and reactive incident responses when breaches hit the news.
The right platform consolidates vendor data, automates assessment workflows, and provides continuous monitoring so you can move from reactive crisis management to proactive risk visibility. It should work for teams that think in risk frameworks while also serving business stakeholders who care about vendor reliability and cost. Get it wrong, and you’re either drowning in manual assessment work or missing threats until they blow up in your face.
We evaluated ten third-party and supplier risk management solutions across questionnaire configuration, continuous monitoring capabilities, remediation workflows, support quality, and ease of deployment. We reviewed customer feedback to understand where vendors over-promise and where operational reality diverges from marketing claims. What we found: the gap between a platform that handles basic vendor tracking and one that truly manages third-party risk across your entire ecosystem is substantial.
This guide gives you the testing insights and decision framework to match the right third-party risk platform to your vendor count, regulatory environment, and team resources.
Our Recommendations
Your ideal third-party risk solution depends on vendor count, assessment depth requirements, and how much operational lift you’re willing to absorb. Start with your team’s capacity.
- Best for Complex Vendor Ecosystems: Mitratech Prevalent covers the full vendor lifecycle with AI-assisted assessments and continuous monitoring for regulated enterprises.
- Best for Enterprise Scale and Complex Governance: Archer Integrated Risk Management Platform delivers the questionnaire customization and control mapping that large organizations need.
- Best for Continuous Objective Monitoring: BitSight Security Ratings provides daily external security scores without waiting for vendor responses.
- Best for Reducing Assessment Overhead: OneTrust Vendorpedia For Enterprises replaces manual questionnaires with a pre-completed risk exchange and automated scoring.
- Best for Data-Driven Risk Visibility: SecurityScorecard Third-Party Risk Management provides letter-based external ratings for objective vendor benchmarking.
Mitratech Prevalent is a third-party risk management platform built for enterprises juggling complex vendor ecosystems. It covers the full vendor lifecycle, from onboarding through offboarding, with risk scoring and continuous monitoring baked in.
Lifecycle Coverage That Actually Reduces Workload
We found the platform handles sourcing, onboarding, performance tracking, and offboarding in one place. That matters because TPRM programs usually involve stitching together spreadsheets and point tools across multiple teams.
The assessment library includes over 800 templates, and built-in AI helps auto-complete assessments. Continuous monitoring pulls in external intelligence on cyber threats, regulatory changes, and financial risk, so you’re not relying solely on point-in-time questionnaires.
What Customers Are Saying
Users consistently highlight the support team as a standout. Implementation staff get praised for tailoring the platform to specific organizational needs, and response times are fast. However, some users report that advanced reporting requires Excel exports for progress tracking and detailed analysis.
Built for Complex Vendor Ecosystems
We think Mitratech Prevalent fits best if your organization manages a large, complex vendor portfolio in a regulated industry. The lifecycle coverage and continuous monitoring reduce the operational overhead of running a mature third-party risk program. If your team needs lighter-weight assessments or a faster deployment, other options may suit you better.
Strengths
- Full vendor lifecycle management from sourcing through offboarding in a single platform.
- Over 800 assessment templates with AI-assisted completion speed up evaluations.
- Continuous monitoring combines cyber, financial, and regulatory risk signals automatically.
- Support and implementation teams are consistently rated as responsive and collaborative.
Cautions
- Some users have noted that advanced reporting requires Excel exports for progress tracking and detailed analysis.
- Some customer reviews highlight that user interface works but is not always intuitive for new users.
Archer Integrated Risk Management Platform
Archer provides a centralized GRC platform for managing third-party risk, compliance, and vendor relationships. It targets large enterprises with complex supplier ecosystems and multiple departments needing governance oversight. The focus is consolidating risk visibility across your entire organization.
Configuration Without Code
Pre-built risk assessment questionnaires accelerate vendor evaluations. You can customize workflows and processes without programming skills. The standardized format makes cross-vendor comparisons straightforward.
Security Risk Monitoring runs continuously and surfaces prioritized threats. The central repository tracks all supplier contracts and relationship owners. We saw strong integration capabilities with other enterprise systems, which reduces the need for multiple point solutions.
What Customers Are Saying
Customers consistently praise the dashboards and auditing capabilities. The ability to map controls against multiple regulatory frameworks saves significant duplication. Long-term users with 6+ years on the platform report it eliminates the need for multiple third-party tools. However, some customer reviews flag that periodic updates can introduce GUI issues requiring careful rollout planning.
Built for Enterprise Scale
We think Archer fits organizations with 10,000+ employees and multiple departments needing GRC coordination. Security operations, business continuity, and compliance teams get the most value. If your risk management needs are simpler, this is likely more platform than you need.
Based on our review, the investment pays off when you need enterprise-wide governance. Customers rate it highly for disaster recovery and audit readiness.
Strengths
- Configure workflows and processes without programming or coding skills
- Strong integration with enterprise systems reduces need for multiple point solutions
- Control mapping across multiple regulatory frameworks enables test-once compliance
- Clear dashboards quantify business risks for executive communication
Cautions
- According to customer feedback, periodic updates can introduce GUI issues requiring careful rollout planning
- Based on customer feedback, version upgrades are effectively mandatory to maintain support and functionality
BitSight Security Ratings
BitSight quantifies third-party cyber risk through continuous external monitoring and daily security ratings. It targets security teams who need objective, data-driven vendor risk assessments without chasing questionnaire responses. The platform extends visibility into fourth-party risk as well.
Daily Scores and Portfolio Visibility
The Portfolio Risk Matrix generates a daily risk score for each vendor. The at-a-glance scoring makes it easy to spot which relationships need attention. No waiting for vendors to complete questionnaires.
Monitoring covers both immediate suppliers and their vendors. We saw detailed findings on specific risk areas with clear remediation guidance. The quantitative reporting works well for audit evidence and stakeholder communication. BitSight also offers an Advisor service if you want expert help optimizing workflows.
What Customers Are Saying
Customers praise the reporting depth and detailed findings. Support gets high marks for responsiveness. Same-day answers to questions seem to be the norm.
Some customers flag that incident notifications lag behind public news sources. However, some users mention that incident alerts can lag behind what appears in public news sources.
Best Fit for Continuous Monitoring
We think BitSight works best if your priority is ongoing vendor monitoring rather than point-in-time assessments. The cloud deployment keeps things simple. You also get the bonus of benchmarking your own security tool effectiveness.
Strengths
- Daily risk scores provide continuous visibility without chasing vendor questionnaires
- Fourth-party monitoring extends visibility into your vendors' supply chains
- Quantitative reporting simplifies audit evidence and board-level communication
- Responsive support team with same-day answers to questions
Cautions
- Some customer reviews highlight that incident alerts can lag behind what appears in public news sources
- Some users have reported that limited regular contact with account reps for ongoing relationship management
LogicGate Risk Cloud
LogicGate Risk Cloud is a no-code GRC platform built around drag-and-drop workflow automation. It targets mid-sized organizations that want to build custom risk processes without hiring consultants or writing code. The focus is flexibility and user adoption over heavyweight enterprise features.
Drag-and-Drop Workflow Building
The interface lets you map vendor onboarding and risk assessment workflows visually. The conditional routing is useful. Forms can branch based on how vendors answer questions, which cuts manual triage.
Automation handles deadline enforcement and reminders. We saw one-click report generation with export options for stakeholder sharing. The RESTful API connects to other systems cleanly. Cloud deployment means quick setup with no infrastructure to manage.
What Customers Are Saying
Customers consistently highlight the user experience. Easy logic changes without consultants comes up repeatedly. Training and support get strong marks. The linkages between modules help drive user adoption across teams.
Some customers flag that reporting needs work for board and committee presentations. Executives still prefer not logging into separate systems during meetings. If your leadership expects polished exports without platform access, plan for that gap. However, based on customer feedback, Reporting output not yet polished enough for direct board presentation.
Right-Sized for Growing Teams
We think Risk Cloud fits teams that need flexibility without complexity. If you want to iterate on workflows quickly and your users resist heavy enterprise tools, this works well. The vendor is transparent about product direction, which customers appreciate.
Strengths
- Drag-and-drop workflow builder requires no coding or external consultants
- Conditional routing automates form logic and reduces manual triage work
- Strong user experience drives adoption across non-technical teams
- Support team walks through problems directly rather than just documentation
Cautions
- Some users report that reporting output not yet polished enough for direct board presentation
- Some customer reviews note that executives must log into platform to view dashboards during meetings
LogicManager Vendor Management System
LogicManager’s Vendor Management System is built for organizations that want standardized, quantitative vendor risk assessments with automated workflows. The platform targets mid-sized and larger organizations in regulated industries, particularly financial services, where mapping vendor assessments to compliance policies is a daily requirement.
Quantitative Risk Scoring With Built-In Intelligence
The platform’s customizable questionnaires use an industry-specific risk library to collect the right information for each vendor. We found the recurring assessment setup useful for keeping risk data current without rebuilding questionnaires from scratch each cycle. The Risk Analyzer AI tool automatically extracts key information from assessments, including renewal dates and breach notifications, and flags risks shared across multiple vendors to help deduplicate remediation efforts.
Reporting includes criticality scoring that helps teams prioritize which vendor risks to address first, with visual dashboards that translate risk data into decision-ready views. The platform integrates with over 50 business applications, including WorkDay, Microsoft 365, and accounts payable systems.
What Customers Are Saying
Users value the platform’s ability to track operational and strategic risks in one place, with custom workflows and assignable tasks earning praise for streamlining daily work. However, according to customer feedback, the platform can feel limited in customization depth and certain integrations, which affects flexibility for teams with more complex requirements.
Best for Regulated Mid-Market Organizations
We think LogicManager fits best if your organization operates in financial services or another regulated industry where mapping vendor assessments to compliance policies matters. The quantitative scoring and recurring assessments reduce manual overhead for teams managing growing vendor portfolios.
If you need deep customization or complex workflow logic, the platform may feel constrained. But for teams that want structured, repeatable vendor risk assessments with solid reporting, LogicManager delivers.
Strengths
- Customizable questionnaires use an industry-specific risk library for targeted assessments
- Recurring assessments keep vendor risk data current without manual rebuilds
- Risk Analyzer AI extracts key dates, breach notifications, and common risks across vendors
- Criticality scoring helps prioritize remediation across the vendor portfolio
- Integrates with over 50 business applications including WorkDay and Microsoft 365
Cautions
- According to customer feedback, customization options are limited for teams with complex requirements
OneTrust Vendorpedia For Enterprises
OneTrust Vendorpedia targets organizations that want to cut the manual overhead of vendor risk assessments. The platform combines a risk exchange with pre-completed assessments, automated risk scoring, and real-time monitoring, reducing the work of building, distributing, and maintaining questionnaires.
Pre-Completed Assessments and Automated Risk Scoring
The risk exchange provides access to pre-completed, industry-standard risk assessments that update automatically when vendors refresh their information. OneTrust validates all assessments to ensure accuracy, then the Auto Inherent Risk feature assigns each vendor a risk score based on severity and engagement level. We found this approach significantly reduces the time teams spend chasing questionnaire responses.
The DataGuidance tool provides intelligence to inform remediation workflows, and near real-time alerting surfaces new risks as they emerge. The platform offers flexible pricing, making it suitable for mid-sized businesses building out their risk program as well as larger enterprises looking to scale.
What Customers Are Saying
Users praise the platform for ease of deployment and the flexibility to use pre-built vendor questionnaires or create their own. Integration with security posture management tools is a highlight. However, some users report that the UI can be unclear when searching for specific items, which slows navigation for newer users.
Scalable for Growing Risk Programs
We think OneTrust Vendorpedia fits best if you want to reduce the manual work of vendor risk assessments while maintaining depth. The pre-completed assessment exchange is a real time-saver for teams managing large vendor portfolios.
If proactive risk monitoring and trend analysis matter to your team, the AI-driven risk identification adds value over time. For organizations already in the OneTrust ecosystem, adding Vendorpedia keeps third-party risk management under one roof.
Strengths
- Pre-completed risk assessments via the risk exchange eliminate manual questionnaire creation
- Auto Inherent Risk scoring triages vendors by severity and business engagement level
- Real-time alerting surfaces new risks without waiting for periodic reviews
- DataGuidance provides intelligence to inform remediation workflows
- Flexible pricing supports organizations from mid-market to enterprise scale
Cautions
- Based on customer reviews, the user interface can be unclear when searching, which slows navigation for newer users
ProcessUnity Vendor Risk Management (VRM)
ProcessUnity VRM covers the full vendor lifecycle from onboarding through continuous monitoring. It targets mid-sized to large organizations, particularly in financial services, that need granular customization and compliance mapping. Tiered pricing works to scale with your program maturity.
Risk Scoring and Lifecycle Automation
The Vendor Request Form automates initial vetting and risk assessments. The risk scoring is useful. It classifies vendors by criticality and data access levels, which helps prioritize your review queue.
Continuous monitoring runs via automated questionnaires with built-in reminders. We saw strong customization at every level. You can configure workflows, assessments, and reports to match your specific processes. Compliance mapping to regulatory requirements is a standout for regulated industries.
What Customers Are Saying
Customers in banking and finance consistently praise the interface. Multiple reviewers call out that it fits better than heavier platforms like ServiceNow for mid-market needs. The ability to eliminate manual processes and coordinate with internal and external stakeholders gets positive marks.
Some customers flag that pricing runs higher than leadership expects. However, some customer reviews highlight that update patches can overlap with existing configurations causing lag.
Strong for Regulated Industries
We think ProcessUnity fits best if compliance mapping matters to your program. Financial services teams get clear value from the regulatory alignment features. If you just need basic vendor tracking, the depth here may exceed your requirements.
Strengths
- Risk scoring by criticality and data access helps prioritize vendor reviews
- Compliance mapping to regulatory frameworks suits financial services well
- Granular customization at workflow, assessment, and reporting levels
- Right-sized alternative to heavyweight enterprise GRC platforms
Cautions
- Some users mention that update patches can overlap with existing configurations causing lag
- According to customer feedback, thorough UAT testing needed before production deployment
SecurityScorecard Third-Party Risk Management
SecurityScorecard provides external security ratings that assess third-party risk without relying on vendor-completed questionnaires. The platform collects data from open source and commercial feeds, analyzes it across ten risk categories, and assigns letter-based scores from A to F. It targets organizations of any size that want an objective, data-driven view of their vendors’ security posture.
Ten-Factor Scoring and Continuous Monitoring
The platform classifies cybersecurity issues into ten categories it calls Factors, including social engineering, patching cadence, and DNS health. Each organization gets a letter grade based on these Factors and their severity. We found the scoring model gives teams a consistent way to benchmark vendors against each other.
Businesses can dispute scores, correct them with evidence of preventive measures, or appeal after remediation. SecurityScorecard updates corrected scores within four to seven business days. Beyond scoring, the platform supports sending and receiving security questionnaires and compliance documentation, and visualizes risks across your third-party ecosystem.
What Customers Are Saying
Users highlight the platform’s ease of use and the speed of getting up and running, with self-guiding setup that works for risk teams at any maturity level. Reporting flexibility and prompt breach detection notifications for monitored vendors earn consistent praise. However, some users have noted that false positives occasionally surface, requiring time to submit disputes and get them resolved.
Best for Data-Driven Risk Visibility
We think SecurityScorecard fits best if you want an objective, external view of vendor risk that does not depend on questionnaire responses. The letter-based scoring makes it easy to communicate risk to stakeholders who are not security specialists.
A free tier assessing up to five suppliers works for smaller organizations, while the enterprise version adds fourth-party detection, consulting services, and API integrations. If end-to-end vendor lifecycle management is what you need, this is not that platform. But for continuous, data-driven risk visibility across your supply chain, SecurityScorecard is a strong pick.
Strengths
- Ten-factor scoring model provides consistent, objective vendor risk benchmarking
- Letter-based grades make risk communication accessible to non-technical stakeholders
- Continuous monitoring surfaces risks without waiting for vendor questionnaire responses
- Free tier available for smaller organizations assessing up to five suppliers
- Score dispute and correction process keeps ratings accurate and current
Cautions
- Some users have noted that false positives occasionally surface, requiring time to submit disputes for resolution
Venminder
Venminder combines vendor risk management software with human expertise from a team of risk analysts. It targets mid-sized and large organizations in regulated industries who want expert review of vendor documentation, not just storage. The model offloads document collection and analysis to Venminder’s team.
Document Collection You Do Not Chase
Venminder has pre-established relationships with thousands of vendors. This is valuable. Their team retrieves SOC reports, business continuity plans, and certificates of insurance directly. You skip the back-and-forth.
Every document gets reviewed by their Document Collection team for accuracy. We saw reports with controls, risk ratings, and specific remediation recommendations. Automatic alerts notify you when documents update. The regulatory mapping helps if you operate in financial services or other heavily regulated sectors.
What Customers Are Saying
Customers consistently praise the support team. Long-term users describe them as partners, not just tech support. Contract renewal reminders get high marks from vendor management leads. The platform is configurable and receives regular updates based on user feedback.
However, based on customer reviews, repetitive data entry across multiple sections of the platform slows initial data input.
Best When You Value Expert Review
We think Venminder fits best if you want human analysis alongside your software. The 8am to 8pm EST support hours and client advisory board show commitment to customer success. If you prefer pure automation with minimal vendor interaction, look elsewhere.
Strengths
- Pre-established vendor relationships mean you skip document collection entirely
- Human analysts review every document and provide risk ratings with recommendations
- Contract reminder functionality prevents renewals from slipping through the cracks
- Support team operates as partners with extended hours and community resources
Cautions
- Based on customer reviews, repetitive data entry is required across multiple sections of the platform
- Some users have noted that review dates do not auto-populate, requiring manual scheduling of follow-ups
Whistic Vendor Security Assessment
Whistic flips the traditional vendor assessment model. Instead of chasing questionnaires, vendors publish security profiles that you access on demand. The Trust Catalog covers 35,000+ organizations. It targets teams tired of the questionnaire back-and-forth who want faster access to vendor security data.
Vendor Profiles Replace Questionnaire Chasing
Vendors create Whistic Profiles containing certifications, audits, and security documentation. This approach cuts assessment time significantly. You browse rather than request. Templates cover NIST, GDPR, and ISO standards.
The platform calculates risk scores and triggers automatic re-assessments. We saw intuitive workflows for conducting assessments. The Vendor Security Network lets you evaluate third parties without creating or sending custom questionnaires. SaaS deployment makes it accessible from anywhere.
What Customers Are Saying
Customers consistently praise the support team. Multiple reviewers note the level of assistance goes beyond what most vendors provide. The intuitive interface and feature depth get positive marks. Teams appreciate not having to chase internal stakeholders for vendor information.
Some customers flag limited customization options. Reporting and configurability constraints become problems as VRM programs scale. The Salesforce sync has intermittent issues. Support SLA times can run long when you need help at scale. However, some users find that limited customization options constrain mature VRM programs.
Best for Speed Over Customization
We think Whistic fits best if your priority is fast access to vendor security data. The profile-based model works well for organizations with many vendors to assess quickly. If you need heavy customization or advanced reporting, the constraints may frustrate you.
Strengths
- Vendor profiles eliminate questionnaire creation and follow-up entirely
- Trust Catalog provides security data on 35,000+ organizations out of the box
- Automatic risk scoring and re-assessment triggers keep data current
- Support quality consistently exceeds expectations across customer feedback
Cautions
- According to some user reviews, limited customization options constrain mature VRM programs
- Based on customer feedback, reporting and configurability become limitations at scale
What To Look For: Third-Party Risk Solutions Checklist
When evaluating third-party risk platforms, we’ve identified six critical criteria. Here’s the checklist:
- Questionnaire Customization and Scaling: Can you build custom questionnaires without coding? Can you deploy different assessment types to different vendor tiers based on criticality? Does the platform support bulk questionnaire uploads or just individual creation? Can you map assessments to multiple regulatory frameworks simultaneously?
- Continuous vs. Point-in-Time Assessment: Does the platform provide continuous monitoring or rely on periodic vendor responses? Can you get daily external risk scores without waiting for questionnaire responses? Does automatic re-assessment trigger on meaningful changes, or do you set everything manually?
- Integration and Data Flow: Does it connect to procurement systems, SIEM, and GRC tools? Can vendor risk data flow into board reports without manual compilation? Does it support API integrations or just pre-built connectors? Will you be rebuilding reports monthly?
- Compliance Mapping and Audit Readiness: Does it map assessments across multiple frameworks (NIST, ISO, GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2) automatically? Can you export audit-ready reports that demonstrate your third-party risk program? How long are assessment records and remediation history retained?
- Remediation Tracking and Mitigation: Does the platform track remediation evidence and vendor responses to findings? Can you measure whether fixes actually reduced risk or just closed tickets? Does it support mitigation plans for findings that can’t be immediately remediated?
- Operational Usability and Support: Can business stakeholders manage vendor relationships without security expertise? Does implementation require heavy customization or does it work out of the box? What’s the support model for deployment and ongoing optimization? How responsive is technical support for complex issues?
Weight these criteria based on your environment. Large enterprises with hundreds of vendors should prioritize questionnaire customization and integration depth. Regulated industries need compliance mapping and audit readiness. Teams wanting faster assessments should focus on continuous monitoring and external scoring. If you’re resource-constrained, ease of use and vendor support quality matter more than feature range.
How We Compared The Best Third Party And Supplier Risk Management Software
Expert Insights is an independent research and review team focused on cybersecurity and infrastructure solutions. No vendor can pay to influence our review of their products. Our assessments reflect product quality and deployment experience. Before testing, we identify the complete vendor market including market leaders, established competitors, and emerging players.
We evaluated ten third-party risk platforms across questionnaire flexibility, continuous monitoring depth, risk scoring accuracy, compliance mapping, reporting capability, and deployment complexity. Each was assessed for ease of vendor onboarding, customization without professional services, support quality during implementation, and ability to scale to hundreds of suppliers. We reviewed customer feedback and spoke with teams running these platforms operationally.
Beyond hands-on evaluation, we conducted vendor market research and interviewed practitioners managing third-party risk programs daily. We assessed platform strengths for handling vendor criticality assessment, integrating with enterprise GRC stacks, and providing visibility into fourth-party risk. Our editorial team and commercial operations remain independent.
This guide is updated quarterly. For full methodology details, visit our How We Test & Review Products.
The Bottom Line
No single third-party risk solution fits every organization.
If you need full vendor lifecycle coverage with continuous monitoring and AI-assisted assessments, Mitratech Prevalent handles sourcing through offboarding for regulated enterprises with complex vendor ecosystems. The support team is a consistent standout.
If you’re managing enterprise-scale third-party risk with complex governance requirements, Archer Integrated Risk Management Platform delivers the control mapping, questionnaire customization, and dashboard visibility that large organizations demand. Expect higher licensing costs and an implementation timeline.
If you want objective, continuous vendor monitoring without chasing questionnaires, BitSight Security Ratings provides daily external risk scores. The Portfolio Risk Matrix surfaces critical risks immediately, and fourth-party monitoring gives visibility into your vendors’ supply chains.
If your team is mid-sized and values speed and ease of use over enterprise depth, LogicGate Risk Cloud delivers no-code workflow automation and a user experience that drives adoption across business units.
If compliance mapping and regulatory alignment are critical, ProcessUnity Vendor Risk Management (VRM) is particularly strong for financial services and regulated industries needing granular customization and framework alignment.
If you want human expertise combined with software, Venminder provides analyst-backed reviews and remediation guidance. The extended support hours and partnership approach work well for teams building mature third-party risk programs.
If speed and profile-based assessment matter more than customization, Whistic Vendor Security Assessment eliminates questionnaire fatigue. The 35,000+ vendor Trust Catalog provides instant access to security data on most enterprise vendors.
If you operate in financial services or another regulated industry and want structured, quantitative vendor risk assessments, LogicManager Vendor Management System offers recurring assessments, an industry-specific risk library, and AI-powered risk extraction that reduces manual overhead.
If cutting the manual overhead of vendor assessments is the priority, OneTrust Vendorpedia For Enterprises provides pre-completed risk assessments via a risk exchange, automated scoring, and real-time alerting. Flexible pricing makes it accessible from mid-market to enterprise.
If you want an objective, external view of vendor risk without relying on questionnaires, SecurityScorecard Third-Party Risk Management delivers letter-based scores across ten risk categories. A free tier works for smaller organizations, while the enterprise version adds fourth-party detection and consulting services.
Read the individual reviews above to dig into deployment specifics, pricing models, and support quality that matters for your vendor ecosystem and regulatory environment.
FAQs
Third Party Risk And Supplier Management: Everything You Need To know (FAQs)
The success of a TPRM solution depends on how effectively it can identify risks across your entire business lifecycle with associated third parties. The way these risks are identified, understood, and categorized is very important. Generally, risks are classed as known or unknown risks. Unknown risks are risks that are from external factors, like a data breach performed by a hacker. This is unknown as the exact nature of the risk cannot be known and you are unable to predict when it will occur. Known risks are risks that can be identified and described; this means that they are easier to prevent. Known risks tend to be classified into three groups:
- Profiled Risk: This risk refers to the services that a third party provides for your organization. For instance, an outsourced HR or payroll company can present more risk to your business than a catering company due to the nature of the data that it has access to. For example, the HR and payroll company will have access to highly sensitive financial and personal data. The catering company, however, may not have such extensive information, but presents a physical risk as third-party staff will have access to your premises. Risks aren’t always as clear cut and can be layered and complex.
- Inherent Risk: Inherent risk refers to a third-party risk that is present and hasn’t yet been remediated. Inherent risk is calculated by using a third party’s own data on their policies and practices to make a more informed risk assessment. This will include identifying pre-existing supply chain issues, bad financial standing, and operational inefficiencies. Internal risk assessments are important in adding context and clarity to an assessment; they may, however, still not paint a comprehensive picture of a company’s risk posture. External risk assessments can help to fill in these gaps. External vendor risk monitoring and threat intelligence services can help companies to verify assessment responses and identify any unknown or hidden risks.
- Residual Risk: This term refers to any risks that are still present despite remediation efforts. As these risks are impossible to eliminate, you will have to make a judgement to decide if this is a reasonable and justifiable level of risk. Rather than being able to eliminate a risk, you will have to focus on reducing risk to an acceptable level. In this instance, it is important to establish a risk baseline with relevant controls and monitors in place.
TPRM tends to work in stages. This begins with creating a baseline of security, reputational, financial, and privacy risks for potential and current third parties. Ideally, this is performed before a relationship with a third party is established. This is often achieved through questionnaire-based assessments and accessing vendor intelligence databases, then pulling information from these sources.
The vendors that you decide to work with will be onboarded into the TPRM platform’s central repository. From here risks can be monitored and calculated continuously. You can also export data regarding risk and mitigation to relevant stakeholders.
Inherent risk scoring will also be carried out. This allows organizations to understand any potential risks that they might take on, as well as enabling teams to carry out due diligence and inform future risk assessments and mitigation practices. It is considered best practice to complete inherent risk scoring before a vendor is granted access to your system, data, or physical building.
From the TPRM platform, internal controls and assessments can be performed to satisfy audit requirements. Any risks that are identified during this process can be scored, recorded, and mapped, ensuring that your organization remains complaint with security frameworks. External risk monitoring is also performed to cover gaps between periodic assessments and questionnaire responses. This information can be cross-referenced against external observations, thereby enhancing the clarity of a risk assessment. External risk monitoring usually includes using cyber intelligence, financial reports, media screening, sanction lists to gain a comprehensive and holistic understanding of risk.
Finally, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and performance management will be factored in. SLAs are contractual agreements that help to define the expectations and obligations of all parties within a vendor relationship. A TPRM tool can ensure that these obligations and expectations are met and carried out to the required standard. This often includes ensuring that the third-party vendor continues to meet compliance requirements.
In the event that a third party needs to be off boarded or terminated–either because their level of risk was deemed too severe, or the contract has naturally ended–several things need to happen. Depending on the nature of the termination, assessments need to be performed to ensure that final obligations have been achieved. In this event, contract reviews, revocation of system and data access, revoking building access, settling invoices, and compliance reviews will need to be completed. It is just as important that you ensure all the loose ends are tied up to prevent a threat coming via a company you thought you were finished with.
It is worth pausing to consider how many third parties your organization has. Every company that you use for outsourcing, collaborate with, have partnerships with is a third-party that has the potential to impact your organization. This is set against a backdrop of increasing cybersecurity threats and lateral attacks. Today, companies are more interconnected and linked than ever before. In part, this is due to outsourcing and specialization; it is more efficient and cost effective for a company to do one thing really well, then use other specialized companies to deliver a full package. One company could well have numerous third parties working with them to provide a service and streamline operations.
In many instances, a company may not even be the vendor that produces the primary output and will liaise with a number of other vendors in order to produce a final product. For instance, an architecture firm will need to be in contact with multiple third parties at once, including suppliers, builders, electricians, lighting specialists, legal teams, and financiers. Not only that, but the firm may outsource other aspects of their business, such as HR, marketing, and communications to external agencies.
While outsourcing can save time, money, and HR burden, this interconnectedness does increase risk. For instance, if a company that produces sheet glass experiences a cyber breach and has details and contacts stolen, this presents a risk for the architecture firm and building company that were liaising with them at the time, as well as historic customer whose details are on record.
Gaining control over your connections with your third-party organizations and limiting severity of risk can greatly enhance your overall security standing and risk scoring. Risk from third parties isn’t a new concept. It is today’s level of interconnectedness that highlights the need for TPRM to prevent these links being exploited.
There are several benefits to implementing a TPRM solution and framework within your work environment. In this next section we will break down the key benefits and explain why they are relevant.
Improved Security
Through implementing and monitoring third-party risk management tools, organizations can secure themselves from risks and insulate themselves from events that occur within a third-parties jurisdiction. If a hacker is able to gain access to your third party’s network, then a lateral move to your organization is also likely. In the event a third party is hacked, there is the risk that your data will be compromised; this could lead to your operations being impacted and having to cease until the issue is resolved. Having a robust TPRM solution in place can help to manage and mitigate third party risk oversight and protect your business to improve your overall security posture.
Streamlined Operations
By improving your security posture and reducing the likelihood of downtime as a result of a security event, you are able to better utilize your time. This ensures that you can streamline operations, thereby making your organization more effective. By understanding the likelihood of downtime or a specific risk, you can build mitigation plans to circumvent any issues and return to business operations swiftly.
Reduced Costs
Outsourcing is one way that many businesses can reduce costs. However, if a provider suffers an attack, the cost of remediating this and the value of lost business could easily eclipse the savings made through outsourcing. By using TPRM to identify and manage risks before they affect your business can prevent these exorbitant costs. IBM announced in their 2023 Cost of a Data Breach Report that a successful attack sets a company back by an average of USD 4.45 million.
Compliance Requirements
Some regulatory bodies have made vendor risk management a prerequisite in order for companies to be compliant and allowed to operate within a particular sector. Some of the best known of these includes GDPR and CCPA. Failure to comply with these requirements (and have the relevant TPRM solution in place) will often result in a fine. Other industry regulations such as NYDFS, PCI-DSS, and HIPAA take a different approach. They do not specifically ask for vendor risk management but do require compulsory risk assessments as part of the wider compliance process.
Protects Your Brand Image
It doesn’t always matter how severe a breach is, to a potential or current customer, any breach looks bad. Failure to assess and understand your vendors’ and third parties’ levels of risk can potentially expose you to data breaches and losses, which, in turn, harms your brand’s reputation. Companies that have experienced a breach, even if it isn’t directly their fault, can still damage customer confidence. As TPRM reduces the risk of a breach, it decreases the chance of your likelihood of brand image being adversely affected.
Like every established security space, third party risk management has a large and evolving market with a good number of effective vendors and solutions to choose from. That said, it can be difficult to identify the best solution for your needs. Before deciding or purchasing a solution, it is worth taking the time to understand and plan what you need from a TPRM solution. You should consider what you want to get out of it, how well it will integrate into your workflow and environment, its ease of onboarding, and how you can best use the information gained from its analysis. Depending on your sector, size, location, and industry, there will be different risks facing your organization. Common demands on a TPRM include ensuring business continuity, data management, supply chain, anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, and anti-bribery. Some solutions will be particularly suited to a certain sector or type of company.
Building an effective and successful third-party management risk solution takes time and expertise. This will involve a lot of planning on your IT team’s behalf in order to ensure relevant risks are identified and flagged effectively.
Here are some key features to look out for and take into consideration when making a purchase:
- Questionnaire Library: Some solutions will come with a built-in questionnaire library. This allows admins to gather data from vendors and ensure that they adhere to regulatory requirements and industry best practices.
- Customizable Questionnaires: In addition to having a questionnaire library, where teams can perform generic questionnaires, companies should be able to customize the questionnaire so that it is relevant to their industry. Some solutions allow you to edit existing questionnaires, some let you create entirely new ones from scratch, while others make both possible.
- Reporting: This is a key function of TPRM solutions; admins need to access and understand findings, then share these with relevant stakeholders. Reports should allow teams to make actionable decisions based on findings. This process should be quick to carry out, whilst providing a good level of detail and insight.
- Remediation Workflows: A solution that has a remediation workflow feature allows users to be able to request remediation from a specific third party based on intelligence from automated scanning and any completed questionnaires. Users will also be able to view current remediation requests, what risks were asked to be remediated, and timestamps of when the request was sent. This allows overall security to improve.
- Scalability: Ideally, your chosen solution should grow as you do. As companies mature, change, and adapt, they’re more likely to take on additional third-party vendors. It’s important that your TPRM solution can grow as you do, all the while maintaining coverage.
- Monitoring: Your TPRM solution needs to monitor risks and events constantly. After initial risk scans, security posture should be continuously monitored to confirm that there have been no further changes or developments.
- Automation: Automated or scheduled scans and remediation processes can reduce human tasks, whilst maintaining standards.
- Security Ratings: Through data analysis, relative scores can be calculated to put risks into perspective and prioritise responses.
- Fourth Party Discovery: This is a more advanced feature that will uncover the third parties of your third parties. While your organization may not deal with a fourth party directly, they can impact a third party, which could then impact you. While this may sound very far removed, lateral attacks mean that this is very possible. An example would be that multiple of your vendors use a particular cloud data storage solution; if this storage service becomes hacked and suffers downtime, not only will it impact your third parties, but it will impact your business as well.
- Accuracy: While less of a specific feature and more of an attribute, it’s important that your chosen third-party risk management solution is highly accurate. It’s important that the data it aggregates is accurate and that any security ratings used must adhere to fair and accurate standards of security ratings. Information should be independently verifiable and easily accessible.
- Confidentiality: Again, less of a feature and more of a trait but finding a TRPM vendor that takes confidentiality seriously is a must. All information from your business, your risks, how you operate, and the risks and operations of your associated third parties, must be kept in strict confidence. Ironically, if this information was shared, it could put your organization at risk.
Written By
Caitlin Harris is the Deputy Head of Content at Expert Insights. As an experienced content writer and editor, Caitlin helps cybersecurity leaders to cut through the noise in the cybersecurity space with expert analysis and insightful recommendations.
Prior to Expert Insights, Caitlin worked at QA Ltd, where she produced award-winning technical training materials, and she has also produced journalistic content over the course of her career.
Caitlin has 8 years of experience in the cybersecurity and technology space, helping technical teams, CISOs, and security professionals find clarity on complex, mission critical topics like security awareness training, backup and recovery, and endpoint protection.
Caitlin also hosts the Expert Insights Podcast and co-writes the weekly newsletter, Decrypted.
Technical Review
Laura Iannini is a Cybersecurity Analyst at Expert Insights. With deep cybersecurity knowledge and strong research skills, she leads Expert Insights’ product testing team, conducting thorough tests of product features and in-depth industry analysis to ensure that Expert Insights’ product reviews are definitive and insightful.
Laura also carries out wider analysis of vendor landscapes and industry trends to inform Expert Insights’ enterprise cybersecurity buyers’ guides, covering topics such as security awareness training, cloud backup and recovery, email security, and network monitoring. Prior to working at Expert Insights, Laura worked as a Senior Information Security Engineer at Constant Edge, where she tested cybersecurity solutions, carried out product demos, and provided high-quality ongoing technical support.
Laura holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity from the University of West Florida.