ATLANTA, May 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- OneTrust, the #1
fastest-growing company on the Inc. 500 and category-defining
enterprise platform to operationalize trust, today announced it
entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Shared Assessments,
the global membership organization dedicated to developing the best
practices, education, and tools to drive third-party risk
assurance.
The acquisition will help Shared Assessments scale the SIG to
become the de facto third-party risk standard globally.
The acquisition will enable Shared Assessments to further scale
the availability and adoption of the SIG to become the de facto
third-party risk standard globally. Shared Assessments, including
the Standardized Information Gathering Questionnaire (SIG), Shared
Assessments Summit, and Shared Assessments certifications, plan to
continue operating as an open and vendor-neutral industry
organization.
Register for the Webinar: OneTrust
to Acquire Shared Assessments: Fueling the Global Demand for
Third-Party Risk Standardization
Shared Assessments SIG as the Ubiquitous Third-Party Risk
Standard
The case for global third-party risk standardization is clear.
According to Forrester1, "The number of third parties
requiring vetting, monitoring, and mitigation far exceed the
capacity of most TPRM teams, so they only focus on those considered
'critical.'" These issues are multiplied by each risk assessment
questionnaire having an average of 200 questions.
Recent events have also exacerbated the challenges of managing
third-party risk. COVID-19 spurred a decade's worth of digital
transformation to happen seemingly overnight as companies rapidly
adopted cloud applications, networking, and security vendors. Solar
Winds exposed the challenges enterprises face while understanding
and responding to major hacks, and the invalidation of the EU-US
Privacy Shield (Schrems II) is forcing organizations to reevaluate
thousands of third-party data transfers.
The Shared Assessments SIG is one of the most widely adopted
third-party risk standards today, and is positioned to be the
ubiquitous global standard to solve these critical third-party risk
challenges. The SIG is already used by more than 15,000 companies
globally, and with the support and scale of OneTrust, Shared
Assessments can advance the SIG's adoption internationally in
critical areas, including:
- Global reach: Make the SIG globally available in
languages around the globe
- International alignment: Align the SIG more deeply with
international frameworks
- Real-time updates: Adapt the SIG in real-time based on
industry news and events (e.g. COVID, Schrems II)
- Adjacent risk domains: Advance the SIG adoption across
multiple risk areas, including ESG
- Technology enhancements: Build a technology platform to
make it easier for organizations to adopt and apply the SIG in
their programs
As a part of OneTrust, Shared Assessments will have the capital
and global reach it needs to grow the SIG and scale it into the de
facto international third-party risk standard.
Commitment to Shared Assessments' Vendor-Neutral
Integrity
Shared Assessments is tackling challenges that far outreach the
scope of one vendor, industry, or technology platform. Managing
third-party risk with custom standards and frameworks on a
per-vendor or per-organization basis is unscalable. In a world
where organizations are responsible for not just their third
parties, but fourth and fifth parties as well, standardization is
the solution.
Shared Assessment's key differentiator as the global standard
for third-party risk lies in the organization's work with vendors,
licensees, and members across the industry. As a part of OneTrust,
Shared Assessments will maintain its position as a global
membership organization. Shared Assessments plans to review and
update its policies and procedures to be in line with member and
licensee expectations and continue collaborating in a neutral way
with multiple tech vendors and industry partners.
OneTrust is committed to preserving Shared Assessments' position
as a respected industry organization. This integrity is vital for
Shared Assessments to deliver on its goal to become the ubiquitous
global standard for third-party risk. Shared Assessments will
continue to build its programs, partnerships, and standards
supported by its steering committees, advisory boards, licensee
partnerships, and member agreements.
Growing the Summit, Certification, and Third-Party Risk
Management Community
Shared Assessments will see continued growth and investment in
the third-party risk management community. The Shared Assessments
Summit flagship third-party risk event recently wrapped up a
successful spring virtual conference. The Summit will continue to
be among the most widely attended industry events for third-party
risk with a diverse group of vendors, consultants, and industry
organizations participating and sponsoring the Summit.
The Shared Assessments certification program will also see
investment and growth. The accredited Certified Third Party Risk
Professional (CTPRP) and Certified Third Party Risk Assessor
(CTPRA) will continue to be offered live and on-demand for
professionals seeking credibility, recognition, and marketability
in third party risk. OneTrust and Shared Assessments will also look
into ways to expand the CTPRP and CTPRA to be more accessible to
third-party risk professionals around the world.
Shared Assessments will also continue to deliver its popular
toolkits, research, and resources for its member community and the
third-party risk industry at large. As a part of OneTrust, these
resources can be translated and delivered worldwide to increase the
global adoption of third-party risk best practices.
Industry Support for OneTrust Plans to Acquire Shared
Assessments
"The third-party risk industry is in need of more collaboration
to drive innovation and this announcement represents a bold move in
that direction," said Nick
Sorensen, CEO of Whistic. "Reliance on standards
like the SIG makes establishing trust and transparency easier for
both buyers and sellers in the Whistic ecosystem and across the
industry in general. As a long-time Shared Assessment Member and
Licensee, I'm confident that this acquisition will help accelerate
this trend and benefit all of us."
"With the rise of business disruptions has come greater
recognition of the critical role TPRM professionals play ensuring
enterprise resilience," said Atul
Vashistha, Founder & CEO, Supply Wisdom. "While
OneTrust has led the market with risk management technologies,
Shared Assessment has engaged with risk professionals to advance
their goal of common standards and practices for greater efficiency
in third-party risk. Their union will accelerate these efforts
towards global standards and approaches. As supporters of Shared
Assessments' efforts since its founding, the Supply Wisdom team is
very excited for what this will bring to both our clients and the
profession. For our clients, it will reduce risk management
friction and enable leading practices benchmarking. For risk
professionals, it will make it easier to accelerate greater
adoption of automation from risk detection to risk actions
automation."
"The planned acquisition by OneTrust marks an important
milestone for Shared Assessments and the member companies and
organizations employing industry standard resources to ensure third
party risk management initiatives and efficiencies,"
said Rocco Grillo, Managing
Director, Global Cyber Risk Services, Alvarez & Marsal and a
Shared Assessments Steering Committee member. "As the industry
emerges into the post-COVID world, and embraces digital
transformation growth, along with reliance on third party
providers, managing current and future risks born of new
technologies is mission critical for companies. Shared Assessments
will be well positioned to meet the third-party risk management
community's evolving cyber-attack resilience and compliance needs
and to advance new solutions in response to emerging demands on a
global scale."
"Data privacy regulations are increasingly focused on data
governance and disclosures to third parties," said Linnea Solem, CEO, Solem Risk Partners.
"This collaboration will strengthen the resources available to the
industry to address that intersection and drive efficiency in
assessing obligations beyond simply data security."
"The Shared Assessment and OneTrust partnership will transform
third-party risk governance and will be a game-changer in the
global marketplace and the industry," said Alpa Inamdar, Global Head of Third Party
Governance Advisory, BNY Mellon.
"As long-time supporters of Shared Assessments we support any
initiative to drive standardization of the SIG and accelerate
growth in the third-party risk space," said Brenda Ferraro, VP of Third-Party Risk at
Prevalent.
Statements from Shared Assessments and OneTrust CEOs
"We are very excited about this strategic partnership and
planned acquisition by OneTrust. Shared Assessments will have a
unique opportunity to continue the vendor-neutral, thought
leadership role we play in the third-party risk community, now with
increased investment and global reach," said Catherine A. Allen, Shared Assessments founder
and interim CEO. "We'll have more resources to help us more
quickly drive standards in the industry, grow internationally, and
provide more industry education and events. We're excited to be a
part of OneTrust and Kabir Barday's
culture of integrity and respect for the individual, which fits
with our team and culture. Our joint vision of collaborative
efforts within the industry will benefit third party risk
management as a whole, and enable Shared Assessments to stay at the
forefront of the industry and global adoption of
standardization."
"We believe standardization is the future of the third-party
risk management market," said Kabir
Barday, CEO, OneTrust. "The Shared Assessments SIG is
already one of the most widely used standards in the world, and
together we can further invest in the SIG's technology, global
reach, and adoption so we can make it the ubiquitous global
standard. We also recognize it is critical Shared Assessments
continues to operate with a wide variety of industry players and is
guided by their standards board and advisory committees. We are
excited for the continued investment in Shared Assessments, the
SIG, and the third-party risk community across the globe."
To learn more about Shared Assessments and the future of
third-party risk standardization, register for
the webinar. For more, visit
SharedAssessments.org.
Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed, and the
transaction is expected to close in May.
1Forrester blogs, Third-Party Risk Management: You
Can't Outsource Your Way Out Of Accountability, August 2020
OneTrust is a registered trademark or trademark of OneTrust
LLC or its subsidiaries in the United
States and other jurisdictions.
About OneTrust
OneTrust is the #1 fastest-growing company on Inc. 500
and the category-defining enterprise platform
to operationalize trust. More than 8,000 customers, including
half of the Fortune 500, use OneTrust to make trust a competitive
differentiator, implementing central agile workflows across
privacy, security, data governance, GRC, third-party risk, ethics
and compliance, and ESG programs.
The OneTrust platform is backed by 140 patents and powered by
the OneTrust Athena AI and robotic automation engine, and
capabilities include:
- OneTrust Privacy - Privacy Management Software
- OneTrust DataDiscovery - AI-Powered Discovery and
Classification
- OneTrust DataGovernance - Data Intelligence Software
- OneTrust Vendorpedia - Third-Party Risk Exchange
- OneTrust GRC - Integrated Risk Management Software
- OneTrust Ethics - Ethics and Compliance Software
- OneTrust PreferenceChoice - Consent and Preference Management
Software
- OneTrust ESG – Environmental, Social & Governance
Software
OneTrust has raised a total of $920
million in funding at a $5.3
billion valuation from Insight Partners, Coatue, TCV,
SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Franklin
Templeton. OneTrust's fast-growing team of 1,500 employees
is co-headquartered in Atlanta and
London with additional offices in
Bangalore, Melbourne, Denver, Seattle, San
Francisco, New York, São
Paulo, Munich, Paris, Hong
Kong, and Bangkok.
To learn more, visit OneTrust.com or connect on
LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.
About Shared Assessments
As the only organization that has uniquely positioned and
developed standardized industry resources to bring efficiencies to
the market for enterprise risk management for more than a decade,
the Shared Assessments Program has become the trusted source in
third-party risk assurance. Shared Assessments offers opportunities
for members to address global risk management challenges through
leadership, best practices, tools, training, and special interest
groups. Join the dialog with peer companies at
www.sharedassessments.org.
Media Contacts
Dan
Chmielewski
Madison Alexander for Shared
Assessments
+1 949-231-2965
dchm@madisonalexanderpr.com
Gabrielle Ferree
OneTrust
+1 770-294-4668
media@onetrust.com
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