In 2020, SolarWinds was hacked. Not by direct attack, but by means of a supplier. The result? 18.000 companies involved, including US government agencies. Estimated damage: billions of dollars.

You control your internal systems. But what about the 47 providers who have access to your data? And the third parties of these suppliers?

Third party risks are the threat that no one sees. Until it's too late.

The problem that grows silently

Your company manages, on average, 400 to 1.200 third-party suppliers. Each represents a potential entry point for financial, operational, compliance and reputational risks.

EY research with more than 1.000 global organizations revealed that 57% are centralizing TPRM (Third-Party Risk Management) management precisely because manual processes fail to keep up with the current complexity.

And the market is paying dearly for it: US$8,3 billion in annual losses related to third-party risk management failures, according to 2024 data.

The risks are not just cybersecurity. They are also:

• Financial:supplier goes bankrupt and paralyzes its operation.

• Operational:Delay in critical deliveries compromises your schedule.

• ESG:Second-tier supplier uses slavery-like labor, but it's their brand that's in the headlines.

• Regulators:third does not comply with LGPD/GDPR and your business responds to the regulator.

Mathematics does not close

Here's the structural problem: your compliance team reviews contracts and audits quarterly. In the meantime, suppliers change status daily.

A company may be financially healthy on Monday and in judicial recovery on Friday. A partner can have a valid ISO certification and, three months later, suffer a data breach that compromises the entire chain.

Manual third-party risk management is not only inefficient, it is mathematically impossible at scale.

What leading companies are doing

Leading organizations have understood that effective TPRM requires three pillars:

1. Continuous Monitoring:real-time monitoring of material changes in critical suppliers (financial, reputational, regulatory).

2. Automated Risk Scoring:AI that assesses and scores risks based on multiple dimensions, not just questionnaires filled out once a year.

3. Predictive Intelligence:detection of warning signs before risks materialize, not only in response to already installed crises.

A major global manufacturer has implemented this approach and reduced the time to Due Diligenceof suppliers of weeks for days.

The result? Significant operational economics + enhanced compliance + ability to scale the program without increasing headcount.

The window is closing

Regulations such as DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) in Europe and NYDFS guidelines in the USA already require rigorous third-party risk management. Fines for non-compliance can reach millions.

But the real cost is not the fine. It is business interruption, reputational damage, loss of contracts. It is too late to discover that a second-tier supplier has compromised its entire operation.

Third parties are extensions of your business. Their risks are their risks.

If you still manage that in spreadsheets and fully manual quarterly reviews, you're not just behind. It's exposed.

Follow Vennx to get more insights on GRC, AI, and risk management that really works.

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We're going to turn complexity into competitive advantage.

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