Why SaaS Vendor Risk Gets Messy Fast
SaaS teams add vendors quickly — support tooling, analytics, infrastructure, HR systems, payment services — then try to govern them with a mix of docs, email threads, and a “master spreadsheet”. The problem isn’t that spreadsheets are evil; it’s that vendor risk isn’t static.
A workable approach needs:
- a reliable place to store vendor records (including contacts and contracts),
- a repeatable workflow for onboarding/reviews/remediation,
- visibility into what’s overdue and what’s stuck,
- and evidence you can pull quickly when customers, auditors, or internal stakeholders ask.
ISMS.online is built around keeping this work connected and visible — so you don’t lose decisions, tasks, or evidence across separate tools.
What a Vendor Risk Management Platform Needs to Do in Practice
For SaaS, “platform” shouldn’t mean “another place to upload PDFs.” It should help you run a living vendor risk programme.
Here’s a practical checklist you can use when evaluating platforms:
- Register + context: clear vendor list, ownership, and key details (not just names in a sheet).
- Workflow: onboarding, periodic reviews, exceptions, and offboarding as a consistent process.
- Collaboration: notes, discussions, and documents attached to the work — not buried in email.
- Visibility: what’s overdue, what’s in progress, what needs attention now.
- Reporting + export: quick reporting and exports for internal reporting and external assurance.
ISMS.online supports this kind of operational visibility through dashboards, Track workflows, and reporting/export options.
A Quick Comparison Table
| Need | Spreadsheet approach | ISMS.online approach |
|---|---|---|
| Keep a vendor register usable over time | Manual updates, inconsistent fields, hard to govern access | Use Accounts to manage relationships, with Contacts and Contracts available in the Account area |
| Run reviews consistently | Ad hoc checklists and chasing status | Use Tracks with configurable statuses/outcomes/categories and due dates to drive repeatable review workflows |
| Stop remediation work disappearing | Follow-ups live in inboxes | Consolidate assigned work in To-dos and use notifications when items change or need attention |
| Know what’s overdue, quickly | Requires manual filtering and constant checking | Use the Dashboard to see what’s overdue and where work is in its workflows |
| Show evidence fast | Scramble to assemble supporting artefacts | Use Linked Work and the ISMS Overview / ISMS Overview Report to visualise connections and export where needed |
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Where Your Vendor Register Should Live
A vendor risk programme falls apart when the “vendor list” is just a list. You want vendor records that can actually support governance: ownership, controlled access, the right people involved, and the right artefacts attached.
In ISMS.online, Accounts provide a structured place to manage partner relationships, with standard tabs (e.g., Documents, Discussions, Tools, KPIs) plus relationship-specific features like Contacts and Contracts. You can also manage who can access an Account and assign roles such as an “Account Lead”.
If you’re migrating from a spreadsheet, you can bulk upload Accounts/Contacts via a CSV process (including requirements like keeping the file as .csv, and a service-level timeframe around data changes).
How to Run Vendor Reviews as a Repeatable Workflow
A vendor review isn’t one task — it’s a mini workflow: request info, assess risk, capture exceptions, agree actions, and close out with evidence.
ISMS.online Tracks are designed to move work through visible statuses (with configurable statuses between “To-do” and “Resolved”), plus configurable outcomes and categories for reporting. For each Track Item, you can set a due date (with overdue indicators), assign owners, and use Notes/Discussions/Documents to keep context and evidence alongside the work. You can also apply default deadlines so new items don’t enter the workflow without a response time.
Example “Vendor Review” workflow (simple, SaaS-friendly):
- Create vendor review item (new vendor / annual review / major change)
- Assign owner + due date and apply categories (e.g., “Critical”, “Processor”, “Infrastructure”)
- Collect evidence in the item (docs) and capture findings in notes/discussion
- Resolve with an outcome (e.g., complete / declined / duplicate) and record why
- Archive when appropriate (keep it searchable without cluttering the active list)
How to Keep Remediation From Disappearing After Onboarding
Most vendor risk failures aren’t “we never assessed the vendor.” They’re “we assessed them… and then never finished the actions.”
ISMS.online helps here in two practical ways:
- To-dos bring work together. Tasks (and activities from projects) are collected into a single To-do list — so people aren’t relying on memory or scattered trackers.
- Notifications reduce chasing. You’re notified when you’re assigned an item, when changes are made, or when someone explicitly notifies you about a note/discussion.
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How to Measure Vendor Risk Performance
If you want vendor risk to scale, you need to measure throughput and bottlenecks — not just count vendors.
ISMS.online Track Stats provide an at-a-glance view of performance (resolutions per day, average resolution time, overdue analysis, spread of outcomes/categories, and more), and those stats can be exported. At a higher level, the Cluster Dashboard is designed to show ISMS performance at a glance by surfacing the status of Tracks, Risk Registers, KPIs, and more — helping teams spot overdue work and workflow blockages.
How to Answer Audits and Customer Security Reviews Without the Scramble
SaaS customers increasingly expect fast, confident answers about your supplier chain and risk controls. That’s where “connected work” matters.
- The ISMS Overview shows links across your ISMS in a table format, supports filtering, and can be exported as a spreadsheet.
- The ISMS Overview Report provides a visual view of how controls, risks, and assets are connected using Linked Work — helpful for spotting gaps (e.g., risks without associated controls).
- You can also export lists of project activities/tasks as CSV for deeper analysis or sharing.
This is where ISMS.online becomes more than “a place to store vendor docs” — it’s a way to keep vendor risk decisions, actions, and evidence linked and exportable when you need it.
How ISMS.online Fits Into a Modern SaaS Toolchain
Vendor risk work touches engineering, security, IT, and procurement — so it can’t live in isolation.
ISMS.online supports native Track integrations with Atlassian Jira, Slack, and ServiceNow, so teams can keep workflows connected to the systems they already operate in.
FAQs
What is vendor risk management (VRM)?
VRM is the process of identifying, assessing, and reducing risks introduced by third parties that support your business.
Why do SaaS companies need a vendor risk management platform?
Because vendor ecosystems change constantly — and you need consistent workflows, visibility, and evidence without relying on manual chasing.
What should I look for in a vendor risk management platform?
A central vendor register, repeatable review workflows, clear ownership and deadlines, reporting/export capability, and collaboration features.
How often should vendors be reviewed?
It depends on criticality and change frequency — many teams review critical vendors more often and reassess when there’s a material change (scope, sub-processors, hosting, etc.).
Does vendor risk management help with audits and customer due diligence?
Yes — when your evidence and decisions are easy to find and export, you can respond faster and more consistently.
Is vendor risk management only for large enterprises?
No — SaaS companies of any size can benefit, especially when customer requirements and vendor complexity grow quickly.
Can a vendor risk management platform replace procurement or legal review?
It shouldn’t replace them — it should help those teams operate with clearer workflows, shared evidence, and better visibility.
