Vendor risk management: Best practices for protecting your business

Vendor risk management (VRM) involves addressing risks associated with your third-party vendors. An effective vendor risk management program helps businesses protect data, ensure business continuity, and comply with regulatory requirements.

What is vendor risk management?

The process refers to identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks that arise from third-party vendors and their impact on your business operations. These risks can include cybersecurity breaches, data breaches, financial losses, and reputational risks.

A robust vendor risk management program ensures that your vendors meet your security controls, comply with relevant regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO 27001, and maintain strong data protection protocols. By following the vendor lifecycle—from vendor selection to vendor onboarding and offboarding—your business can manage risks across the entire partnership, protecting both sensitive information and stakeholder interests.

Why vendor risk management matters

Effective vendor risk management protects your business from significant risks, ensuring business continuity, data protection, and regulatory compliance. Here’s why vendor risk management is crucial:

1. Reputational risks

A vendor’s failure to meet expectations—whether due to a data breach or poor service—can significantly damage your company’s reputation. Managing these risks ensures that your vendor relationships don’t jeopardize your brand’s credibility.

2. Financial risks

Poor vendor performance or failure to comply with regulations can result in financial penalties, loss of business, or breach of contract, which can have severe financial consequences.

3. Compliance risks

Non-compliance with regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, or SOX can expose your business to legal repercussions. A comprehensive vendor risk management program helps you ensure that all vendors meet regulatory requirements.

4. Cybersecurity risks

Cyberattacks targeting third-party vendors are an increasing threat. Ensuring that your vendors have strong security controls reduces the risk of data breaches and protects sensitive information.

Vendor risk management lifecycle

The vendor risk management lifecycle helps you mitigate risk at every stage of the relationship with third-party vendors, from vendor selection to ongoing monitoring and offboarding.

1. Vendor selection & due diligence

Assess a vendor's risk profile before engaging with them. Conduct a thorough vendor risk assessment and review questionnaires to evaluate potential cybersecurity risks, financial stability, compliance with regulations, and security posture. You can also use a vendor scorecard to evaluate vendors based on key performance metrics.

Key steps in vendor selection:

• Conduct a vendor risk assessment to evaluate potential risks
• Review vendor certifications, such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001
• Use a risk score to prioritize vendors based on their level of risk and potential operations impact

2. Vendor onboarding

Once a vendor passes the due diligence phase, integrate them into your systems with a structured onboarding process. That way, vendors understand your security requirements, data protection policies, and compliance obligations.

Be sure to:

• Provide clear expectations for security controls and data handling
• Verify the vendor implements the appropriate security measures to safeguard your data

3. Continuous monitoring

Continuous monitoring helps track vendor performance and identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities throughout the vendor lifecycle. Real-time dashboards allow you to assess vendor performance, track regulatory compliance, and spot emerging cyber risks.

Key monitoring activities:

• Monitor for data breaches, cyberattacks, or security vulnerabilities
• Track vendor performance metrics and risk exposure
• Regularly assess the vendor risk score to ensure alignment with your risk management strategy

4. Vendor offboarding

When a vendor relationship ends, ensure secure offboarding to protect sensitive data and ensure compliance with your data protection policies. Offboarding includes revoking access, securely deleting or transferring data, and performing a final audit.

Offboarding checklist:

• Revoke access to systems and data.
• Securely delete or transfer sensitive data
• Ensure compliance with contractual obligations and regulatory requirements

Best practices for vendor risk management

To strengthen your vendor risk management program, follow these best practices:

1. Automate workflows

Use automation to streamline vendor risk assessments, onboarding, and continuous monitoring, including automating tasks such as accounts payable to reduce manual work.

2. Implement risk scoring

Assign each vendor a risk score based on factors such as financial stability, cybersecurity risks, and compliance adherence. This will help you prioritize your efforts and allocate resources.

3. Regularly review vendor performance

Evaluate your vendors’ performance against KPIs and security metrics to confirm they meet your expectations. Tackle any service or security shortfall to maintain a robust partnership.

4. Conduct regular audits

Audit vendor relationships and third-party contracts to ensure your vendors are complying with security protocols and regulatory standards.

Key tools for vendor risk management

The right supplier risk management software can help you automate risk assessments and provide real-time insights into vendor performance and compliance:

Get on top of your vendor management with Ramp

Vendor risk management helps you manage the security, compliance, and performance of your vendor relationships. By adopting a structured vendor risk management program, leveraging automation, and utilizing specialized tools, you can protect your business from cybersecurity risks, ensure business continuity, and meet regulatory compliance requirements.

With continuous monitoring, risk scoring, and regular vendor performance reviews, you can mitigate risks and maintain strong, secure vendor partnerships that drive your business forward.

Learn how Ramp’s vendor management platform can help you stay on top of your vendor details as part of your comprehensive risk management program.