With SYNERGi’s Latest Version (5.2)
Information Risk Management (IRM) has reacted to the market needs of effective solution based vendor risk management by recently releasing a brand new version of their award-winning Cyber GRC solution; with features and enhancements that now make it an even stronger player, especially within the Third-Party Risk & Compliance Management solution markets in particular.
The reality within the market today is that organisations are managing hundreds to thousands of vendors, suppliers and other varied third-party relationships; all presenting various degrees of risk. Coupled with the rise of legislation (such as the ever discussed EU GDPR) and increasing access to sensitive data through third parties bigger than ever before, the pressure is mounting on organisations to perform effective vendor risk and compliance management.
IRM’s Cyber GRC solution, SYNERGi, has released its latest version (5.2) which introduces significant changes to its vendor module as well as several compliance updates within its dedicated policies area, with the aim to help those organisations tackling the demands of today’s market.
Whilst there have been numerous improvements to the User Interface and new features that have already improved day to day use for its 50 plus customer base, the most notable developments are within three key areas:
- The ability to re-issue vendor questionnaires
- KPI’s have been introduced for better status overview and reporting
- Compliance indicators have been introduced to the policy section
While many of the new improvements will help an organisation with their vendor risk management, the benefits don’t just stop at the four walls of the enterprise, they also help the respondents themselves too.
Re-issuing vendor questionnaires sounds quite straightforward for a solution such as SYNERGi, but this is not simply automating the process of a remediation action like re-sending a vendor questionnaire, but this new feature allows the client to reissue a questionnaire containing all the answers that were previously provided when it was initially completed incorrectly. This type of functionality is a great way to give the vendor a chance to review their previous responses instead of having to start from the beginning again.
KPI’s have been introduced to the Vendor Module – Another gap in the market is having an effective solution to tracking large amounts of vendors and within SYNERGi, clients can have, in a click of a button, access to a wide range of colourful pie charts and tables to impress their board and auditor’s. These KPI charts show any current Vendor remediation actions, the expiry dates of contracts, the approval status of vendors plus many more features. These KPI features also offer drill-down capability – simply by clicking a piece of the pie chart and opening a report displaying all the data that make up that part of the KPI.
Compliance Indicators have been introduced to the Policy section
When it comes to legislation like the EU GDPR, effective policies and procedures must be evidenced and the latest version of SYNERGi has addressed this by significantly improving its policy section. Now controls can be linked to Policy Statements and the Policy as a whole. Now visual indicators have been introduced which display the cumulative Compliance score of all the Controls linked to the Policy. This is displayed in the form a status bar for individual Policy Statements and through a KPI Gauge for the Policy as a whole.
Other new features and improvements include:
- New Questionnaire Builder UI within the Vendor Questionnaire Wizard
- Two New Dedicated Vendor Areas – Questionnaires and Assessment
- Risks can now be imported
- Custom answer choices can now be added to the vendor questionnaires
- Multiple vendor questionnaires can be saved as a draft
- Scope objects can now be directly linked to business entities
- Compliance indicators have been introduced to the policy section
- Compliance questionnaires have been fitted with a save and return feature
- Compliance questionnaires can be downloaded via new formats
- New drill down functionality has been implemented into reports
- Status Column in Controls Table Features Search and Filter Tools
- Exported Spreadsheets Contain More Data
- Objects within SYNERGi can be linked to Multiple Domains
- Fluid Navigation has been introduced to Completed Vendor Questionnaires
- Business Rules can now be applied to Risks.
For more information on any of the new features and improvements mentioned above, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by going to our contact page where a no-obligations discussion can be had to discuss your specific requirements.