Strategic planning isn't just for business. It can also be used as an effective tool to guide the development of your vendor management program. Asking key questions will reveal insights, force you to face realities and help ensure that you anticipate changes that will occur in the future. Some of these questions might be: "What are the biggest threats and risks my vendor management and third party risk management process face?" or "What resource allocations and succession plans need to be in place to ensure delivery for the future?" or "Do I expect competition to emerge for the risk management services I currently provide for my company?" or "Where do I expect technology to converge to bring me improved productivity in meeting regulatory requirements?"

If you are thinking that vendor management and third party risk management is complicated enough that you have your hands full just keeping up with today's requirements and that strategic planning would be a luxury, you are not alone. VendorINSIGHT, through our office of Client Development, has developed a worksheet that walks customers through the questions they need to ask. This worksheet paints a picture of the complexity, challenges, resources, and trends they will face in the future. It also delivers insights from our industry interactions, customer experiences, and assessment of what the regulators are saying. Completing this exercise can help you communicate to your management team where and when they should expect you to ask for more resources, make additional investments in systems and technology, and how you will develop the existing resources you have so you can be as effective and as efficient as possible.