From firefighting to focus: Proactive TPRM

Why TPRM still feels reactive 

You’re dealing with more vendors/third-parties, more risk signals and more pressure from the board.

But your current model often looks like this:

• Chasing vendors for missing data

• Managing risk through spreadsheets and disconnected systems

• Reacting to incidents because of limited visibility and poor quality data

• Struggling to demonstrate control, not just compliance

Too much time is spent managing process, not risk.

At the same time, geopolitical instability, cyber threats and supply chain disruption continue to increase.

This creates a gap.

You’re expected to manage risk prudently. But limited visibility, poor data quality and high administrative workload impact your ability to make confident future-facing decisions.

What’s keeping teams stuck in firefighting mode?

Most TPRM programmes are built around:

• Point-in-time assessments

• Manual fragmented data collection and unvalidated data

• Siloed ownership across teams 

This leads to:

• Repeated effort across Procurement, Security and Risk

• Inconsistent vendor views

• Delayed decision making

• Limited ability to scale across vendor tiers

The issue isn’t effort. It’s how data and processes are orchestrated.

What a more mature approach looks like

Mature TPRM shifts from scrambling to control - reducing administrative work so teams can focus on material risk.

That means:

• A single, consistent view of vendor risk

• Validated primary data that can be trusted and reused across teams

• A risk-based approach

• The ability to monitor risk on an ongoing basis

Instead of chasing information, you work from a reliable, high quality data foundation.

This frees up time and resource to focus on deeper risk reviews, stronger vendor relationships and better decision-making.

This requires a different approach to how vendor data is collected and shared.

How to connect and standardise your approach

For over 10 years, nearly 150 organisations have trusted Hellios to improve their data quality and admin efficiency by up to 75%.  

Acting as industry communities, they’ve collaborated to define a single, comprehensive question set aligned to their sector and region - covering TPRM, cyber, operational resilience and regulatory requirements. 

Vendors submit their information once. Hellios validates, maintains and monitors that data, which is then shared across participating institutions. 

This creates a consistent dataset that reduces duplication and supports a more scalable way to manage vendor risk across teams, institutions and ultimately industries.

How organisations are moving beyond firefighting 

1. One standard for vendor data
A single shared question set removes variation across teams and organisations, creating a consistent dataset that connects Procurement, Security and Risk functions - so teams spend less time reconciling data and more time analysing risk.

2. Less manual chasing and disconnected processes
Validated primary data reduces repeated vendor requests and aligns teams around a single source of truth, freeing up capacity to focus on higher-risk material vendors.

3. A model that scales across vendors, teams and regions
A high-quality data foundation, connected with your existing systems, allows you to manage risk consistently across vendor tiers without increasing workload - enabling teams to go deeper where it matters.

Leading organisations are moving in this direction by working together and aligning on shared approaches.

What this looks like in practice 

Hellios saves Benefact Group 1,148 due diligence days across 287 suppliers.

This shift allows teams to spend less time managing process and more time focusing on material risk. 

The bottom line 

You can’t scale firefighting.  

The goal isn’t to do more risk management - it’s to spend less time on admin activity so you can focus on what matters most. 

That starts with quality data and a consistent, standardised approach that connects data, teams and processes.