There used to be a time when a firewall and some anti-virus software was enough for companies to feel protected. But those days are long gone. Today cloud-based computing services enable employees to access software applications, data storage, and other services remotely via wireless connections, creating a new digital ecosystem rife with information security (InfoSec) complexities.
Adding to the cybersecurity complexities, the global pandemic shifted everyone to home offices and kitchen tables, accelerating digital transformation as companies tried to keep pace with the collaboration and communication challenges of remote working.
As companies continue to digitize their processes—including the transfer, storage, and processing of important and sensitive data and communications—and grapple with the challenge of securing both legacy and cloud systems, the role of InfoSec has never been more critical.
With the surge of people working from home, costly data breaches, phishing, and ransomware threats are on the rise. Did you know that the average total cost of a data breach has increased $137,000 due to remote working?! In fact, 61% of companies reported a 25% or greater increase in cyberthreats since the beginning of the pandemic, while 68% of business leaders feel their cybersecurity risks are increasing.
Digital business has created a new ecosystem, one in which the greatest risk to information security may come from outside the organization as companies start to rely more heavily on third parties (e.g., professional services firms, SaaS vendors, cloud infrastructure).
In 2019, 70% of businesses rated their reliance on outside vendors as moderate to high, with nearly half (47%) experiencing a risk incident involving the use of a third party in the last three years. As a result, vendor risk management (VRM), and the accompanying information security questionnaire, have moved to the top of the priority list for many organizations—and rightly so.
Let’s talk shop for a minute. VRM includes a set of proactive actions that help the organization identify, manage, and monitor risks resulting from third-party vendors and suppliers of IT products and services. VRM programs are concerned with ensuring third-party products, IT vendors, and service providers do not disrupt business or damage the company’s finances or reputation.
What exactly are those security questionnaires that are clogging up your inbox? An integral part of a company’s VRM program, a security questionnaire (also called a vendor risk assessment questionnaire or IT risk assessment questionnaire) is a tool that an organization circulates to a prospective product vendor or service provider to evaluate and validate their security practices before choosing to do business with that organization.
Typically composed of 150+ questions that can take up to 16-20 hours to complete (without the benefit of automation), security questionnaires are designed around five trust principles:
The security questionnaire is how prospects and potential business partners collect the information about your organization that they need to feel secure in doing business with you. And it is your opportunity to demonstrate clearly and concisely the foundational role InfoSec plays within your company’s digital ecosystem.
While responding to security questionnaires may seem like a daunting task—especially with tight turnarounds and sales reps depending on you to help keep the prospect moving through the buyer’s journey—there are ways to make the process not only simpler and speedier, but a valuable piece of your sales and RFP process. If you do it right, the process can foster trust and loyalty amongst prospective and existing customers and partners—which, ultimately, leads to winning more business. Sounds pretty good, right?
We sat down with Johan Olivier, Security and Compliance Director at QorusDocs, and picked his brain about all things InfoSec. He shared five tips to help you navigate the security questionnaire process like a pro:
Support your responses with quality documentation and offer to engage in Q&A sessions to clarify uncertainties and answer questions. If you do this, the entire exercise will be more valuable, accurate, and rewarding to all parties. A solid win-win.
QorusDocs simplifies the way you respond to security questionnaires in multiple ways, including an intuitive auto-answer capability, task assignment across teams, progress monitoring, and easy access to up-to-date reusable content.
I hate to toot our own horn (do I?) but with QorusDocs on your side, you’ll be able to collaborate in everyday applications you already use, boost productivity with AI-powered content, and gain instant questionnaire insight for smarter follow-up conversations with prospects.
To learn more about security questionnaires and how to bring your ‘A’ game to the InfoSec table, visit our Template Hub to download The QorusDocs “Everything-you’ve-ever-wanted-to-know-and-more” Guide to Security Questionnaires. The QorusDocs Template Hub has a variety of templates, tools, and resources to accelerate and streamline your response process to win more business.