“Remote working has been hastily adopted by suppliers to keep their business running, so it’s unlikely every organisation or employee is following best practices,” said Gartner Legal and Compliance managing vice-president Vidhya Balasubramanian. 

“Legal and compliance leaders are concerned about the new risks this highly disruptive environment has created for their organisations.”

Bribery and corruption, privacy, fraud, and ethical conduct were all noted as the most-increased third-party risks (10 per cent of respondents for each) for a significant number of respondents.

“Legal and compliance leaders need to act now to mitigate third-party risk while still enabling their supply chain partners to flex to the current pressures on the system,” said Ms Balasubramanian.

“This will likely mean managing the contractual risks and opportunities of current relationships, mitigating emerging issues, and streamlining due diligence for new third parties. Legal and compliance leaders will also be looking at other ways to reduce the compliance burden on third parties.

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“Legal and compliance leaders have had to pivot quickly to support their supply chain and other business partners as part of this rapidly shifting third-party risk landscape.

“The most progressive companies have approached this crisis as an opportunity to clarify and streamline compliance obligations, strengthen current relationships, and focus their risk management efforts on the most critical, urgent risks.”