- "The value of Shared Assessments is clear: in the first year alone, we significantly reduced our vendor assessment costs. Membership offers the added value of giving our organization a voice in developing a much-needed global standard for vendor management."
- —Donald Monks, Vice Chairman, The Bank of New York Mellon
About Shared Assessments
Streamlining Control Assessments
The service provider control evaluation process has long been inefficient and costly. Each outsourcing organization produces and distributes its own proprietary questionnaire to each of its service providers. Service providers strain their resources to respond to diverse client information requests. Inconsistencies from questionnaire to questionnaire cause delays for all parties. And time- and resource-intensive on-site visits further burden both the outsourcer and the service provider.
Shared Assessments was created by leading financial institutions, the Big 4 accounting firms, and key service providers to inject standardization, consistency, speed, efficiency and cost savings into the service provider assessment process. Through membership in the Shared Assessments Working Group and use of the Shared Assessments tools (the Agreed Upon Procedures and the Standardized Information Gathering questionnaire), Shared Assessments eliminates redundanciesand creates efficiencies, giving all parties a faster, more efficient and less costly means of conducting rigorous and comprehensive security, privacy and business continuity assessments.
A Global Community
Shared Assessments members are national and international organizations of all sizes that understand the importance of comprehensive standards for managing risk. They are financial institutions, healthcare organizations, retailers and telecommunications companies. They are service providers of all sizes, consulting companies, and assessment firms. They are the best in their class, members of a global community of risk management experts who understand the value of implementing efficient and effective industry-standard practices.
In addition to its members, the Shared Assessments Program has strategic alliances with global associations including the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). Shared Assessments also continues its affiliation with BITS. The Santa Fe Group manages the Program. Together, Shared Assessments' diverse membership works to increase awareness and adoption of the Program tools across industry sectors and around the globe.
Shared Assessments Tools
To promote adoption of its standards, the Shared Assessments tools — the Standardized Information Gathering Questionnaire and Agreed Upon Procedures — are available for free download. These documents are reviewed annually by Shared Assessments members and updated for consistency with evolving security, privacy and business continuity standards.
The Santa Fe Group's Role
The Santa Fe Group is dedicated to supporting the development of the Shared Assessments Program. We provide a trusted forum for dialogue and collaboration among all stakeholders on issues that matter to outsourcers, their service providers, assessment firms, regulators and others. For more information, please contact Michele Edson, Senior Vice President, The Santa Fe Group, michele@santa-fe-group.com.
- "The internal costs of the Shared Assessments Program are significantly less than fulfilling every unique request for the same information coming from multiple financial service firms"
- —Jim Routh, CISO - The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation