10/14/2026
๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฉ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฌ๐ผ๐ ๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ธ ๐๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐บ ๐ง๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ ๐ข๐ฟ ๐ก๐ผ๐
One thing twenty years in IT will teach you very quickly is that almost no modern company operates alone.
Payroll.
Accounting.
Marketing.
CRM.
Cloud providers.
Internet providers.
Software companies.
Payment processors.
Benefits platforms.
Consultants.
IT providers.
Every one of those relationships can make a company more capable.
I run a business too.
I outsource things because it would make absolutely no sense for me to build everything internally.
That is good business.
But outsourcing a function does not mean outsourcing the responsibility for understanding what happens if that function fails.
This is where vendor risk becomes much more than cybersecurity.
Let me ask a simple question.
Which five outside companies could materially disrupt your business tomorrow if they suddenly stopped working?
Do you know?
And more importantly:
What would actually happen?
I am not suggesting leadership needs a two hundred page risk assessment for every subscription.
That is not practical.
I am suggesting we understand our critical dependencies.
There are vendors in almost every company that store sensitive information, move money, control access, host customer data, or operate systems employees cannot work without.
Those vendors are effectively extensions of the business.
Trust them.
Build strong relationships.
Use great partners.
But understand the dependency.
Because when someone else's system goes down, your customer does not care whose fault it is.
They called you.
That makes it your business problem too.
