Operations · IT Operations
Vendor Management
Managing suppliers, contracts, support entitlements and third party risk across the technology estate.
IntermediateUpdated 2026-09-01
Overview
Vendor management tracks contracts, renewal dates, support levels, escalation paths and performance against agreements. It also owns third party risk assessment: what data the vendor holds, their security posture, their subprocessors and their incident notification commitments.
Supply chain incidents make this a security function as much as a commercial one. Knowing which vendors have privileged access or hold your data is a prerequisite for responding when one of them is breached.
Security considerations
- Maintain a register of vendors with data access or remote access, and review their privileges regularly.
- Require breach notification terms and check them against regulatory obligations.