Standing up a vendor risk program from scratch
A step-by-step playbook for building a lightweight but effective vendor risk management program.
If your current vendor risk process is "we emailed the CEO's brother who runs IT", this guide is for you. A modern, defensible vendor risk program doesn't have to be heavyweight — it just has to be repeatable.
Step 1: Inventory
You cannot manage what you cannot see. Start by listing every vendor with access to your data, systems, or physical premises. Pull this from procurement, finance, and SaaS management tools.
Step 2: Tier by risk
Not every vendor deserves the same scrutiny. Score vendors on two axes: criticality (what breaks if they go down?) and data sensitivity (what do they touch?). A simple 3-tier model works for most programs.
Step 3: Run due diligence
For top-tier vendors, collect SOC 2 reports, ISO certifications, and DPAs. For middle-tier, a short questionnaire is usually enough. Low-tier vendors can be reviewed annually with minimal paperwork.
Step 4: Monitor continuously
Annual reviews are not enough anymore. Set up alerts for certification changes, breaches, and material corporate events.
Step 5: Close the loop
Every finding from a vendor review should turn into a tracked action — not a PDF buried in SharePoint.