How Third-Party Risk Management Can Help Mitigate the Effect of COVID-19 on Businesses

2 minute read

March 2020

This post originally appeared on LinkedIn. To view the original article, click here.

We understand the turbulence COVID-19 has caused to businesses across the globe and are here to help support where we can. Our first priority is to ensure our employees, clients and partners are staying safe and healthy at this time.

We also recommend businesses conduct supplemental geographic location, business continuity and pandemic preparedness assessments to their third-party ecosystem to determine not only the risks, but also the chain of communication with working with each vendor during COVID-19.

While essential third parties should take priority, all third parties should be reviewed for potential risks, as understanding how lower risk vendors could be exposing undue risk to the employee base is something that should not go un-checked. If a service or vendor is essential to business continuity but is in an affected area, for example, the company may be at risk of losing revenue, disrupting operations, impacting its reputation and more.

A consistent, automated approach an help to speed up the assessment process and allow risk teams to focus on the immediate risks from COVID-19. These teams are moving fast to assess their vendor populations, and an automated system acknowledges differences in risk that merit different degrees of review, prioritizes the vendors who require further investigation and reduces costly and time-consuming analyst input.

No business can prepare for every potential risk. However, businesses must take the appropriate measures to assess policies, procedures and external relationships to avoid unexpected or unnecessary risks during unforeseen events, like COVID-19. 


Here at ProcessUnity, we continue to closely monitor the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic as well the statements and guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization. In response, we are taking all necessary steps to ensure uninterrupted service to our customers while maintaining the health and safety of our employees.

We have adopted safe work practices, which include social distancing, enhanced hygiene etiquette, and cancellation of non-essential activities to minimize potential transmission of the virus.

In addition, last week ProcessUnity conducted a successful real-world business resiliency exercise to ensure continuity of business operations. With our workforce operating in a fully remote capacity, we successfully conducted normal business operations, verifying that processes and services would proceed uninterrupted in the event of an office closure and/or decentralized workforce.

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About Us

ProcessUnity is a leading provider of cloud-based applications for risk and compliance management. The company’s software as a service (SaaS) platform gives organizations the control to assess, measure, and mitigate risk and to ensure the optimal performance of key business processes. ProcessUnity’s flagship solution, ProcessUnity Vendor Risk Management, protects companies and their brands by reducing risks from third-party vendors and suppliers. ProcessUnity helps customers effectively and efficiently assess and monitor both new and existing vendors – from initial due diligence and onboarding through termination. Headquartered outside of Boston, Massachusetts, ProcessUnity is used by the world’s leading financial service firms and commercial enterprises. For more information, visit www.processunity.com.