How To Scale Third-Party Risk Management Across Large Organisations

Why Third-Party Risk Management Becomes Harder At Scale

In large organisations, third-party risk doesn’t increase linearly - it compounds.

You may be dealing with:

• Thousands of suppliers and third parties

• Multiple business units with different risk priorities

• Global regulatory obligations across jurisdictions

• Separate processes owned by procurement, risk, compliance, IT, and audit

Without a scalable approach, this complexity leads to:

• Duplicated assessments and supplier fatigue

• Inconsistent risk decisions across teams

• Gaps in evidence during audits

• Slower onboarding and delayed business activity

At scale, manual, one-to-one due diligence simply doesn’t hold.

What “Scalable” Third-Party Risk Management Really Means

Scaling TPRM does not mean assessing more suppliers, more often.

A scalable TPRM framework is one that:

• Applies consistent standards across the organisation

• Uses risk-based prioritisation, not blanket checks

• Reduces duplication for suppliers and internal teams

• Produces clear, auditable evidence by default

• Adapts as regulations and risks evolve

In other words, scalability is about structure and design, not effort.

The Core Barriers to Scaling TPRM

1. Fragmented Ownership

In large organisations, third-party risk is often split across functions:

• Procurement manages onboarding

• IT assesses cyber risk

• Compliance tracks regulation

• Audit requests evidence

Without alignment, this leads to overlapping requests, conflicting decisions, and unclear accountability.

2. One-to-One Due Diligence Models

Traditional TPRM relies on each buyer assessing each supplier independently.

At scale, this creates:

• Supplier fatigue

• Inconsistent data quality

• High administrative overhead

• Slow response during incidents

This model does not scale beyond a limited supplier base.

3. Inconsistent Risk Criteria

Different teams often assess risk using:

• Different questionnaires

• Different thresholds

• Different interpretations of “high risk”

This makes enterprise-wide reporting, prioritisation, and audit defence extremely difficult.

The Principles of Scalable Third-Party Risk Management

1. Standardise What “Good” Looks Like

Scalable TPRM starts with clear, shared standards.

This includes:

• Defined risk categories (financial, cyber, ESG, operational, regulatory)

• Agreed evidence requirements

• Consistent scoring and tiering logic

Standardisation enables comparability - without forcing every team into identical workflows.

Read more here: What Does ‘Good’ Supplier Data Actually Look Like?

2. Apply Risk-Based Proportionality

Not every third party deserves the same level of scrutiny.

Scalable programmes:

• Focus deeper assessment on high-impact, high-criticality suppliers

• Apply lighter-touch controls to low-risk relationships

• Use tiering to allocate time and resources effectively

This prevents bottlenecks and keeps teams focused where risk actually sits.

3. Centralise Assurance Data, Not Decision-Making

Centralisation doesn’t mean removing autonomy.

It means:

• One trusted source of assurance data

• Shared visibility across teams

• Local teams making decisions based on the same validated information

This balance is critical for large, decentralised organisations.

4. Build Audit-Readiness Into the Process

At scale, audit readiness cannot be a manual exercise.

A scalable TPRM framework:

• Captures evidence as part of normal operations

• Maintains clear audit trails over time

This reduces last-minute evidence scrambles and strengthens regulatory confidence.

5. Design For Change, Not Stability

Regulations, risks, and supplier landscapes change constantly.

Scalable TPRM frameworks are:

• Governed centrally

• Updated regularly

• Aligned with emerging standards (e.g. cyber, ESG, operational resilience)

This prevents the need to rebuild processes every time expectations shift.

How Shared Assurance Enables TPRM at Scale 

This is where shared assurance models fundamentally change what’s possible.

Rather than each organisation running isolated assessments, shared assurance platforms bring buyers and suppliers into a common framework.

Through platforms like FSQS and JOSCAR, Hellios supports scalable TPRM by:

• Managing standardised questionnaires on behalf of Buyer communities

• Validating supplier assurance data centrally

• Refreshing data on defined cycles

• Making assurance data accessible across teams

This approach dramatically reduces duplication while improving data quality and consistency.

Scaling Across Business Units and Geographies 

For large organisations, scalability also means internal alignment.

Shared assurance allows:

• Multiple business units to rely on the same assurance baseline

• Regional teams to meet local regulatory needs without duplicating effort

• Central risk teams to gain enterprise-wide visibility

This creates a single risk language across the organisation - even when operations are decentralised.

What Scaled TPRM Looks Like in Practice 

When third-party risk management is truly scalable:

• Onboarding is faster and more predictable

• High-risk suppliers are identified earlier

• Internal teams work from the same evidence base

• Audits become routine, not disruptive

• Suppliers engage more willingly and transparently

Most importantly, risk decisions are consistent, defensible, and proportionate.

The Role of Hellios in Scaling Third-Party Risk Management

Hellios supports large organisations by operating shared assurance ecosystems that remove friction without removing control.

By managing:

• Supplier onboarding into assurance communities

• Questionnaire design and governance

• Data validation and refresh cycles

• Dashboards, reporting, and insight

Hellios enables organisations to scale TPRM without scaling administrative burden.

Platforms like FSQS and JOSCAR allow third-party risk management to function as an enterprise capability - not a collection of disconnected processes.

Key Takeaways: Scaling TPRM Is a Design Challenge

Scaling third-party risk management is not about working harder - it’s about working differently.

Large organisations that succeed:

• Standardise expectations

• Share assurance intelligently

• Focus effort where risk is highest

• Build processes that stand up to scrutiny

With the right structure in place, TPRM becomes an enabler of resilience, speed, and confidence - even at scale.