How Modern Risk Teams Are Harnessing Assessment Exchange Data to Drive Efficiency and Scale

5 minute read

October 2025

by Sophia Corsetti

If you’re running a Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) program today, you’re already familiar with the resource drain of manual assessments and the constant challenge of scaling your processes. The introduction of the assessment exchange model changes the game, but for those already in the trenches, the real question is: how do you maximize value from these platforms without disrupting the aspects of your process that already work?

The ROI Is Baked In: Dollars & Hours Saved

Let’s cut to the chase. Every third-party assessment traditionally consumes 10 to 20 hours of your team’s time and $500–$1,000 in internal costs. Multiply that across your vendor portfolio, and the numbers quickly escalate into the hundreds of thousands of dollars each year saved or used for other crucial third-party risk work.

By leveraging an assessment exchange, you’re not just shaving off a few assessment hours, you’re transforming your entire cost structure. Standardized, community-validated assessments mean less duplication, fewer back-and-fourths with your vendors over repetitive questionnaires, and tangible savings that compound as your program grows.

Practical Integration: No “Rip and Replace” Required

One of the standout advantages of modern exchanges is how seamlessly they fit into existing TPRM workflows. Rather than forcing a major overhaul, exchange data plugs directly into the platforms, questionnaires, and processes you already have in place.

For example, ProcessUnity’s Global Risk Exchange allows customers to pull in Exchange data to pre-populate their company-specific questionnaires and assessment forms, giving teams a head start before a single request is even sent out. The result? Faster third-party onboarding cycles and more streamlined risk evaluations.

This also isn’t about forcing a your team to change their questionnaire so that it fits a framework they don’t use. ProcessUnity ensures that you can map standardized Exchange data with your frameworks, giving you clear visibility into what’s covered and where gaps still exist. When higher-risk or uniquely complex third parties require additional follow up on certain controls or risk domains, you can always layer in your own supplemental questions as needed.

Exchange data, whether with ProcessUnity or an assessment exchange of your choice, should become your foundation for deeper, more targeted assessments, not your ceiling.

Learn more about the ROI of a third-party risk exchange by downloading our latest whitepaper.

Continuous Updates, Not Annual Chasing

One of the biggest pain points for TPRM teams is the annual scramble for updated assessments. Exchanges solve this by enabling third parties to refresh their data on an ongoing basis with continuous access to their third-party risk assessment. This gives third-party risk teams access to the freshest risk insights, without needing to chase third parties for the latest attestation or waiting months for a response.

Reliable, up-to-date information can always be at your fingertips, reducing risk blind spots and ensuring your visibility stays aligned with your vendors’ realities.

Benefits Across the Board: Internal Teams, Third Parties, and the Business

For the internal risk team, the value is immediate:

  • Faster third-party onboarding and risk reviews
  • Less time wasted on repetitive, low-value tasks
  • More bandwidth for strategic analysis
  • Continuous focus on high-risk third parties

Third parties benefit as well. With dramatically fewer questionnaire requests from customers, third parties enjoy greater consistency in how their compliance posture is representedand are able to build stronger, more collaborative relationships with their customers.

For the business as a whole, the rewards include reduced friction in overall onboarding, a stronger risk posture through timely data, and the ability to scale TPRM efforts without endlessly expanding headcount. The operational efficiency and strategic clarity delivered by exchange data are hard to overstate when you’re managing dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of vendors.

Addressing the Common Pushbacks

Despite the clear benefits, it’s natural for risk teams to have questions when implementing exchange data. Here are a few that regularly come up:

  • Can I really trust the data a third-party risk exchange provides?
    Leading exchanges use standardized, validated questionnaires and robust governance to ensure data accuracy and timeliness. They partner with third parties to support their end of the assessment process, leading to higher quality data.
  • Is my security data confidentialor will it be accessible by teams without my permission?
    Exchanges are built with security at their core. Access is tightly controlled, sensitive information is protected, and third parties explicitly authorize data sharing. As an example, check out ProcessUnity’s Trust Center to learn more about the protections put in place to support data confidentiality, security, and privacy.
  • I’m worried I won’t have control over gathering the assessment data I need.
    Using exchange data doesn’t mean giving up due diligence. You retain full control to run your own assessments, especially for higher-risk or unique requirements.
  • What if my business requires unique questionnaires to work with vendors?
    Exchange data fills in the repeatable, standard parts of your process. You can always add company-specific questions where needed.

A More Strategic, Scalable TPRM Program

When you combine the practical benefits with robust safeguards, the case for third-party assessment exchanges is compelling. It’s not about handing off your responsibilities, it’s about using community-validated data as a force multiplier. The more you and your third parties participate, the more valuable the ecosystem becomes for all stakeholders.

Think about it: you wouldn’t build your own vulnerability database if a trusted industry standard already existed. So why continue to manage third-party assessments the hard way, when an existing exchange offers a faster, more reliable, and collaborative approach?

The Road Ahead: Making the Leap

The future of third-party risk management is collaborative, data-driven, and scalable. Assessment exchanges are no longer a “nice to have”. They’re becoming table stakes for mature TPRM programs seeking to reduce friction, improve accuracy, and focus resources where they matter most.

Leading organizations are already seeing the benefits: reduced questionnaire volumes, accelerated onboarding, and richer, more actionable risk data. As the ecosystem grows, the network effects only get stronger, delivering ongoing value to risk teams, vendors, and the business at large.

The era of endless manual questionnaires is ending. If you have access to accurate, standardized, and community-validated assessment data, the only real question left is: what’s stopping you?

Contact ProcessUnity today to learn how our Global Risk Exchange data can easily implement into and work for your business needs.

Read our full whitepaper on the “End of Endless Questionnaires” for a deeper dive into this topic.

Related Articles

About Us

ProcessUnity is the Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) company. Our software platforms and data services protect customers from cybersecurity threats, breaches, and outages that originate from their ever-growing ecosystem of business partners. By combining the world’s largest third-party risk data exchange, the leading TPRM workflow platform, and powerful artificial intelligence, ProcessUnity extends third-party risk, procurement, and cybersecurity teams so they can cover their entire vendor portfolio. With ProcessUnity, organizations of all sizes reduce assessment work while improving quality, securing intellectual property and customer data so business operations continue to operate uninterrupted.