Businesses today are growing increasingly reliant on third-party vendors to accelerate innovation and growth. The downside to this dependence is greater exposure to risks. ServiceNow Vendor Risk Management, part of its Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) tools, helps businesses mitigate such risks without affecting service delivery.

Third-party vendors are important partners in an enterprise’s success journey. They often handle confidential information. In such cases, stringent security measures are a necessity. Enterprises with a global presence must also ensure both the core business and their vendors comply with shifting local regulations. The smallest misstep may balloon and result in major events not limited to service shutdowns, financial losses or serious damage to reputation. Careful monitoring of vendor-related risks is just as important as enterprise risk management.

For the second consecutive year, ServiceNow was named a leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for IT Vendor Risk Management Tools in recognition of its increased efficiency through automation and improved transparency. Vendor risk management is usually a fragmented and disorganized process that is error-prone with data spread across a plethora of spreadsheets, emails and complicated legacy management tools. It is often treated as a separate exercise, unconnected to enterprise risk management. ServiceNow whips this disorganized practice into shape, serving as a single source of truth for efficient management. It integrates vendor risk management with overall enterprise risk management for easy monitoring.

How ServiceNow simplifies Vendor Risk Management

Traditional vendor risk management tools rely heavily on manual processes, which are error-prone and result in inefficient risk monitoring and identification. These tools have no room for integration and force teams to work in siloes. This affects free access to critical information accessing critical information. Often, the tools can’t be upgraded or enhanced to meet updated business and compliance requirements and thereby turn obsolete. ServiceNow vendor risk management provides a centralized portal to manage vendor risks with automated risk assessment and tiering and consistent remediation. It eliminates the need for multiple third-party apps and can reduce delays caused by manual processes by up to 50%.

Businesses can manage all interactions with suppliers in one place, ServiceNow’s Vendor Portal. With a dedicated vendor portal, businesses can quickly connect, collaborate and communicate with all vendors via a single channel and cut out the need for multiple emails, calls and messaging apps. Vendors can also assign tasks to their various teams on the portal. It improves visibility by providing information on the status of assessments, issues and tasks to all stakeholders on one simple dashboard.

The new and improved Vendor Management Workspace allows enterprises to assess vendors, understand the risk they pose and automates vendor tiering. This reduces the manual burden and cost of assessment. Assessment Management Workflows automate assessment from start to finish, allowing businesses to quickly respond to issues and increase monitoring of vendors with higher risk scores.

ServiceNow vendor risk management integration with its whole risk management suite helps put vendor risk in context by embedding cross-functional workflows and connecting all users. This integration improves operational resilience. With the help of a Premier ServiceNow partner, businesses can also integrate their preferred third-party apps for stronger risk management.

Benefits of ServiceNow Vendor Risk Management

Businesses using ServiceNow Vendor Risk Management saved a whopping $2.5 million on vendor risk assessments, the Forrester TEI for Risk and Compliance study found. Over three years, they recorded ROI of 235%, more business opportunities and fewer vendor relationship disruptions.

Combined with ServiceNow GRC module, businesses benefit from real-time monitoring, a detailed risk register put together using automated risk assessments, identifying and handling risks in advance, and effective controls to minimize negative impacts on service delivery. Business leaders can consult data, such as risk scores, collected by ServiceNow when making crucial decisions. Standardized and transparent processes improve collaboration and increase efficiency.

Getting started with ServiceNow can seem a daunting task. However, a clear ServiceNow implementation roadmap and the right specialist not only fast-tracks your journey but also ensures you avoid common mistakes along the way. A leading US-based real estate provider found that our tailored roadmaps expedited ServiceNow ITSM implementation with our experts setting up core features in a mere 15 days. Read the case study to know more.

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