Understand Your Vendors’ Business Continuity Plans to Track Risks

According to a recent Gartner survey, 45% of organizations experienced third-party-related business interruptions in the past two years. Mitratech’s Elle Tsivka states that with this growing number experiencing interruptions, organizations must proactively assess their vendors’ business continuity plans. 

A  strong business continuity plan will ensure critical operations continue despite natural disasters, cyber-attacks, or other crises. Without safeguards, vendor failures can lead to operational downtime, data loss, and reputational damage. Legal ops professionals should work with IT to evaluate the continuity plans of current and potential vendors.

Tsviska notes several red flags that indicate weak vendor continuity planning. Outdated or untested plans may fail to meet recovery time objectives, and poor compliance management exposes businesses to regulatory risks. Insufficient IT disaster recovery measures can result in prolonged system failures, while inadequate staff training leaves employees unprepared to execute recovery plans. Moreover, vendors that do not oversee their own suppliers introduce additional vulnerabilities, whereas misaligned continuity plans fail to address the business’s specific needs.

Regularly reviewing vendors’ business continuity plans is key to identifying weaknesses before they become serious threats. Annual assessments allow legal ops professionals to detect outdated strategies, untested protocols, and gaps in preparedness that could compromise operations. 

By ensuring your legal department vendors have well-documented, frequently tested, and up-to-date plans, legal ops can mitigate risks and improve their own resilience.

Tsviska says vendor risk management should be an ongoing process rather than a one-time assessment. By continuously integrating vendor risk intelligence into continuity planning, legal ops can proactively identify vulnerabilities and anticipate potential disruptions.