Third-Party Risk Management ROI Calculator: Measuring the Impact of Automation

3 minute read

March 2025

by Kaitlyn Frank

Imagine starting your day knowing exactly where your vendor risks lie and the status of assessments, with automated third-party risk programs running smoothly and onboarding timelines cut in half.

Now compare this to your current reality: countless hours spent in spreadsheets, conducting manual assessments, and endless email follow-ups. With 60% of organizations now managing over 1,000 third parties, the need for efficient vendor risk management has never been greater.

The Hidden Cost of Manual Third-Party Risk Management

For many organizations, the true cost of manual third-party risk management remains invisible until quantified. Consider this common scenario: A risk management team discovers a potential security issue with a critical vendor. However, because the vendor data is scattered across multiple spreadsheets and email threads, they must spend days compiling and analyzing information before they can assess the full impact — valuable time during which their organization remains exposed.

The hidden cost of manual third-party risk management is more extended than you think. Here’s what the data tells us:

  • Verified financial impact: Organizations face an average of $14.8 million in annual compliance-related costs, while the average third-party data breach now costs $4.88 million.
  • Administrative burden: Without automation, risk teams typically spend significant time on manual data entry, follow-up emails, and spreadsheet maintenance.
  • Risk visibility challenges: When tracking vendors across multiple systems manually, important risk indicators can easily go unnoticed.
  • Delayed response capability: Manual processes inherently slow down third-party risk assessment and incident response times.

Read the ProcessUnity Value Perspective from GRC 20/20

A Business Case for TPRM Automation

Consider how automation could transform this common scenario: Instead of spending hours updating spreadsheets, imagine your risk team receiving automatic alerts about vendor risks. Instead of sorting through documents or waiting for responses to identify which vendors are impacted by a new vulnerability, visualize a system pointing you towards critical exposure as soon as threats are known. Rather than manually tracking compliance deadlines, picture a system that proactively notifies you of upcoming requirements.

Third-party risk management automation offers a path to greater efficiency and program maturity. Here’s how:

1. Eliminate Manual Work and Reduce Costs

Imagine transforming your team’s daily operations: automated vendor risk assessments replace manual spreadsheet tracking, while intelligent workflows handle routine follow-ups automatically. Consider the hours saved and redirected to other impactful work when questionnaire distribution, response collection, and basic analysis happen with minimal human intervention.

2. Accelerate Vendor Onboarding

Picture reducing your vendor onboarding timeline from weeks or months to days. With automated risk scoring and standardized assessment processes, your team can evaluate new vendors quicker while maintaining thorough due diligence standards.

3. Strengthen Risk Visibility

Think of having a real-time risk dashboard that instantly alerts you to potential issues across your vendor ecosystem. Instead of piecing together information from multiple sources, you’d have an instant, single view of your entire third-party risk landscape.

4. Ensure Continuous Compliance

Envision a system that automatically tracks regulatory requirements and monitors vendor compliance in real-time. Rather than scrambling to prepare for audits, you’d have continuous compliance monitoring and documentation ready when needed.

5. Improve Program Maturity

Consider how your risk management program could evolve when freed from manual tasks. Your team could focus on strategic initiatives, develop more sophisticated risk analysis methods, and build stronger vendor relationships instead of getting bogged down in administrative work.

Measure Your Organization’s TPRM ROI

Every organization’s risk management needs are unique, which is why ProcessUnity developed a TPRM ROI calculator. This tool helps you quantify the specific impact of automation on your TPRM program by examining:

  • Current time spent on manual assessment processes
  • Vendor onboarding efficiency opportunities
  • Resource allocation across your risk management program
  • Potential cost-savings from automated workflows
  • Time saved in compliance and audit preparation

Using your organization’s specific data, the calculator provides customized insights into:

  • Potential reduction in assessment completion time
  • Expected efficiency gains in vendor onboarding
  • Projected cost savings from automated processes
  • Resource hours freed for strategic initiatives
  • Overall return on investment over multiple years

Take Control of Your TPRM Future

Ready to understand the true cost of your current TPRM process — and the potential value of automation? ProcessUnity’s third-party risk management ROI calculator helps you build a compelling business case for modernization by quantifying potential time and cost savings.

Don’t let manual processes limit your program’s potential. Take the first step toward transformation by calculating your potential ROI today.

Calculate Your TPRM ROI Now

See how ProcessUnity customers experience ROI in their assessment lifecycle using the Global Risk Exchange. Read more.

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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.