In a crisis, the most valuable asset isn’t a contract or a spreadsheet—it’s a phone number. Yet, under current TPRM models, the people responsible for defending your organisation have likely never spoken to the people defending your suppliers. We are building digital alliances on a foundation of "no-reply" emails and procurement intermediaries.
The Problem: The Disconnect Between Front-Line Defenders
Standard TPRM processes are typically siloed within the procurement and onboarding lifecycle. This creates a structural barrier that prevents security teams from building direct, functional relationships with their counterparts at third-party organisations.
Key Reasons Why the Relationship Gap Represents a Problem:
- Procurement as a Bottleneck: During the assessment phase, the primary point of contact is usually a member of the supplier’s Sales or Procurement team. These intermediaries prioritise "closing the deal" over technical transparency, often shielding the security team from direct questioning.
- Zero Incident Synergy: When a security incident occurs, every second counts. If your security team has to navigate through account managers and generic support aliases to find the supplier’s CISO, the window for containment has already closed.
- Lack of Contextual Understanding: Without a direct relationship, your team cannot understand the culture of security at a supplier. You might know they have a firewall, but you don't know if their security team is overworked, under-resourced, or culturally empowered to "stop the line" during a threat.
- The "Adversarial" Tone: The current questionnaire-based model feels like an interrogation rather than a partnership. This discourages suppliers from being honest about their security challenges, leading them to provide "defensive" answers rather than seeking collaborative improvements.
- Knowledge Silos: Security professionals often have deep, niche expertise that could benefit their partners. By preventing direct contact, organisations miss the opportunity to share threat intelligence and best practices that could harden the entire supply chain.
- Maintenance vs. Onboarding: Relationships are often abandoned once the contract is signed. Without ongoing communication between technical teams, there is no mechanism to discuss emerging threats that didn't exist during the initial onboarding phase.
