Prioritize Foundational Elements Over Decorative Accessories

Our springtime urge to clean, redecorate, and renovate has a biological explanation. Turns out that spring’s increased hours of daylight lower our body’s production of melatonin (the hormone that makes you sleepy), which leads to regained energy and inspiration to clean our living environments. For security and risk pros, what better way to use that energy than to give your third-party risk management (TPRM) program a good spring cleaning?! Whether your TPRM program needs some sprucing up or a complete renovation, my new report, How To Build The Foundation For An Effective Third-Party Risk Management Program, takes you through the steps to get there.

Follow These Steps To Spruce Up Your TPRM Program Like A Pro

These days, there’s no shortage of foolproof, celebrity-endorsed checklists to make your home deep-clean a breeze but none (that I could find) for tidying up your TPRM house. Putting my Home Network show obsession to good use, I created a TPRM spring cleaning checklist. To refresh third-party risk without getting overwhelmed:

  1. Focus on the foundational elements. Before you clean indoors, experts recommend focusing on the structural elements such as gutters, air ducts, and roofing. These areas are far less costly when maintenance is routine. Similarly, the third-party ecosystem is foundational to your company’s business strategy and requires the same preventive maintenance. Breaches, attacks, and disruptions are no different than the leaks from clogged gutters, fires from blocked air ducts, and structural damage from a failing roof. If third-party risk is not a risk managemnet priority or low on the list, prepare for disaster, not inconvenience. Foundational to your TPRM program are things such as organizationwide nomenclature and what third parties are in versus out of scope.
  2. Prioritize visibility. A thorough window washing is synonymous with spring cleaning. Beyond the curb appeal, the process allows you to check that hinges are operational, check for air and water leaks, and remove dirt to improve the air quality and energy efficiency. Data is the window into your third parties: The better the quality and the more complete it is, the better your visibility is into the risk. The good news is that you are likely to have more TPRM data than you know and often enough to get your program started — if you know where to look. To build a holistic view of third-party risk, partner with colleagues in sourcing, procurement, contract management, and business users.
  3. Tackle overlooked surfaces. Spring cleaning is often when we move the furniture instead of cleaning around it and finally address those “forgotten” spots such as baseboards, light fixtures, and curtains. The surfaces are either out of the way or take too much effort to address regularly. In TPRM, tiering, segmentation, and risk scoring are those overlooked surfaces. We’re so focused on keeping up with the volume of third parties that there’s no time to reevaluate whether our tiering and segmentation aligns to business strategy and our scoring model matches our risk management maturity.

Third-Party Risk Doesn’t Have To Be A Business Blind Spot

Third-party risk is a rapidly maturing discipline where yesterday’s requirements can quickly become insufficient. As technology, business dynamics, and the threat landscape all change, make sure your TPRM program keeps pace.

Read the full report for a step-by-step guide to building the foundation for an effective TPRM program, and schedule an inquiry or guidance session with me for further insights.