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Digital resilience isn’t just a buzzword – it’s a necessity. With the growing complexity of supply chains, and the increasing reliance on third-party vendors for everything from IT services to logistics and compliance, businesses are waking up to the fact that their security is only as strong as their weakest link. That’s why now is the time to re-evaluate how your organisation handles third-party risk. A robust, modern Third Party Risk Management (TPRM) framework isn’t a ‘nice-to-have’ anymore. It’s your insurance policy against disruption, reputational, operational, and regulatory.
Let’s explore what’s changing, what’s driving this urgency, and how you can build or improve a third party risk management framework that actually works.
Why You Need A Strong Third Party Risk Management Framework in 2025.
The pressure to manage third party risk is no longer confined to the IT or procurement department. It’s now a board-level concern, and for good reason. Regulators, clients, and even threat actors are all demanding more transparency, more control, and more accountability when it comes to third-party relationships.
Research published in 2024 shows that 90% of organisations now consider third party risk a top strategic priority. That’s a sharp increase from just 63% in 2020, a clear sign that businesses are waking up to the breadth and depth of risk that sits beyond their direct control.
This evolution isn’t happening in a vacuum. It’s being driven by a perfect storm of technological dependency and regulatory pressure. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), for example, has introduced resilience requirements that demand financial firms demonstrate clear oversight of their service providers and contingency planning for extreme scenarios. Over in the EU, the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is enforcing stricter standards for how organisations manage ICT-related risks, including those stemming from third parties.
These mandates are arriving at a time when businesses are becoming more reliant than ever on external providers. The widespread adoption of cloud services has made the line between internal operations and outsourced capabilities increasingly hard to define. At the same time, the frequency and severity of third-party-related cyber incidents is rising. The MOVEit breach, and the Kaseya ransomware attack all illustrate the knock-on impact that can occur when a single vendor is compromised.
Layer onto this the acceleration of AI and automation across critical business functions, and you have a risk surface that’s growing in complexity by the day. While these technologies bring speed and efficiency, they also introduce new dependencies, and new weaknesses, that many organisations are not fully prepared to manage.
The message is clear: the old ways of managing third-party risk aren’t enough. If you’re not adapting your framework to meet this new reality, you’re already falling behind.
Why Traditional Third Party Risk Management Frameworks Aren’t Enough.
The issue isn’t just the presence of third party risk, it’s the way most organisations still attempt to manage it.
For years, traditional third party risk management frameworks have leaned on static, tick-box processes. Risk questionnaires are handed out once a year, onboarding checks are conducted manually, and responsibility is often confined to a single team, typically security or procurement. Visibility rarely extends beyond tier-one suppliers, and by the time red flags are noticed, the damage is already done.
This outdated model simply doesn’t hold up in today’s always-on world. It assumes a stable environment, where risk is predictable and static. But we know that’s not the case. One misconfigured vendor server can open the door to a breach overnight. A single supplier might be the weak link across multiple risk domains, from data protection failures to ESG non-compliance. And with the average enterprise working with hundreds of vendors (and their vendors), the fourth-party risk is just as real, and just as dangerous.
These frameworks also suffer from a lack of integration. When vendor data lives in silos, it’s near impossible to build a full picture of your organisation’s exposure. Without that clarity, teams end up reacting instead of preventing. And when the regulatory spotlight falls, being caught unprepared is a position no business wants to be in.
In short: point-in-time assessments don’t reflect real-world dynamics. Risk doesn’t wait for your next annual review. To stay ahead, your TPRM framework needs to be dynamic, connected, and continuous, a living, breathing part of how your organisation operates every day.
What a Modern Third Party Risk Management Framework Looks Like.
So, what does a strong, future-ready Third Party Risk Management framework look like in 2025? It’s not a document you review once a year. It’s a living, connected system that works across every phase of your vendor lifecycle, and it’s built to adapt.
End-to-End Risk Coverage That Goes the Distance.
A modern TPRM framework doesn’t just kick in when a new vendor is onboarded. It starts at procurement and continues all the way through to offboarding. That means assessing vendor risk before contracts are signed, embedding clear security and compliance requirements into agreements, and monitoring performance throughout the relationship. When it’s time to part ways, the framework ensures data is wiped, access is revoked, and no loose ends are left behind.
It’s a full lifecycle approach, not a one-off check.
Continuous Monitoring Instead of Static Snapshots.
Static assessments are no longer enough. Risk changes fast, and you need to keep up. Leading organisations now use automated tools to track vendor exposure in real time, from attack surface monitoring and breach intelligence feeds to alerts on new vulnerabilities.
These tools feed into internal systems through APIs, helping you build a responsive view of your third-party ecosystem. This is miles ahead of relying on self-attested questionnaires from six months ago.
Intelligence, Not Just Information.
Artificial Intelligence is giving teams the insights they need to work smarter, not just harder. Modern platforms can now scan vendor documentation for inconsistencies, flag behavioural patterns that suggest emerging risks, and match findings against breach data from across the web.
Most importantly, they help you triage, focusing attention on the vendors that matter most, rather than spreading resources too thin. This kind of intelligent prioritisation turns a risk function into a proactive force.
Built-in Compliance, Not Bolted On.
In regulated industries, staying compliant can be a full-time job in itself. But the most resilient frameworks now have regulatory alignment built in from the start. Whether it’s the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) requirements, or the expanded scope of NIS2, your TPRM framework should anticipate what’s expected, not scramble to catch up. That means structured assessments, resilience planning, and the ability to evidence controls whenever needed.
Total Visibility into the Vendor Landscape.
You can’t protect what you can’t see. A mature framework gives you visibility across your entire third-party ecosystem, not just the vendors you interact with directly. That means a centralised inventory, mapping of data flows and dependencies, and awareness of fourth and fifth-party relationships.
It’s about understanding how your services are interlinked, where the vulnerabilities lie, and who is holding the keys to your data, from contract to code.
Practical Steps to Improve Your Third Party Risk Management Framework.
Improving your Third Party Risk Management framework doesn’t have to mean starting from scratch. Whether you’re building from the ground up or refining an existing programme, we work with our clients to take a pragmatic, structured approach. Here’s how we recommend doing it, one step at a time.
Step 1: Re-evaluate What ‘Risk’ Really Means.
Most frameworks still focus heavily on cyber security, but today’s risk landscape is far broader. Start by reviewing your criteria for assessing third parties. Are you considering factors like operational resilience, data privacy, ESG compliance, and even ethical considerations?
Revisit how you classify vendor criticality, not just based on spend or function, but based on how disruptive it would be if they failed. By broadening your lens, you’ll gain a more realistic view of where your exposures truly lie.
Step 2: Automate the Heavy Lifting.
Manual risk assessments can’t scale with the complexity of modern supply chains. Where possible, introduce automation to take the pressure off internal teams. There are tools available that can monitor your vendors’ digital footprints, track changes to their risk profile in real time, and alert you to breaches or vulnerabilities as they occur.
Save your manual, resource-intensive reviews for the vendors who truly matter, the high-risk, high-impact few.
Step 3: Build Clear, Tested Playbooks.
Clarity is everything when risk strikes. Every organisation should have a set of tried-and-tested playbooks that cover the full vendor lifecycle, from onboarding and due diligence to incident response and offboarding.
These aren’t just documents for compliance auditors. They’re your frontline defence. When an incident occurs, your teams should know exactly who does what, and when. That kind of preparedness pays dividends in speed, accuracy, and accountability.
Step 4: Make It Everyone’s Responsibility.
Third party risk doesn’t live in one department. It cuts across procurement, legal, IT, compliance, and even finance. That’s why education and collaboration are key. Everyone involved in selecting, contracting, or working with vendors should understand the role they play in managing risk.
Create shared ownership across functions. When your teams are aligned, your framework becomes more than a policy — it becomes part of how your business operates day to day.
Step 5: Put It to the Test.
Even the best-designed frameworks can have blind spots. That’s why we always recommend running simulations or tabletop exercises.
What would happen if your payroll provider went down unexpectedly? How would your teams respond to a data breach traced back to a vendor? These exercises help identify gaps, surface assumptions, and train muscle memory — so you’re ready when it counts.
By taking these practical steps, you’re not just building a better TPRM framework, you’re building a more resilient business. And in today’s risk environment, that’s one of the smartest moves you can make.
Final Thoughts: Third Party Risk is Business Risk
If there’s one message to take away from this, it’s this: managing third party risk isn’t just about preventing problems, it’s about unlocking potential.
A strong, modern Third Party Risk Management framework is no longer the sole domain of IT or compliance teams. It’s a strategic asset. When embedded properly across your organisation, it becomes a powerful enabler, one that underpins confident decision-making, supports operational continuity, and helps you respond faster when things go wrong.
In a world where businesses are increasingly dependent on third parties, cloud providers, data processors, SaaS platforms, logistics partners, risk doesn’t stop at the firewall. It travels with your supply chain. It follows your data. And if left unmanaged, it can slow you down, sap your resources, or worse, damage the trust you’ve built with customers and stakeholders.
But when your TPRM framework is doing what it should, that risk becomes manageable. Predictable. Even proactive. It means your teams can move forward without hesitation. Your leadership can plan for growth without fearing what’s lurking in the background. And your clients can trust that you’ve got their back, not just on paper, but in practice.
In today’s ‘always on’ world, peace of mind is priceless. And that’s exactly what a mature TPRM framework delivers. Not more red tape. Not more box ticking. Just clarity, resilience, and the freedom to move at pace. So yes, third party risk is business risk. But with the right approach, it doesn’t have to be a blocker. It can be your competitive edge.