The Cyber Defense eMagazine February Edition for 2024

3. Generative AI Could be the Game-Changer
Generative A.I. technology is revolutionizing vendor management. If we look at the root cause of the
vendor management problem, it is because it is filled with tedium. Generative A.I. reduces some of the
tedious work.
Generative A.I. will improve vendor management in the following ways:
• Improve systems of record,
• Improve process development and execution, and
• Speed up vendor response.
First, Generative A.I. improves systems of record dramatically by enabling Generative A.I. querying. In
other words, once you have a system of record or a knowledge base, being able to ask it questions and
receive answers relatively quickly is a much more pleasant experience than skimming through 150-page
document.
Second, Generative A.I. improves process development and execution because it can now generate the
policy or the questionnaire from other sources in the knowledge base, including new regulations. For
example, several U.S. states had their new privacy laws go into effect in 2023. With Generative A.I. you
can store those laws in your knowledge base and then write a prompt for the Generative A.I. to develop
a new vendor questionnaire based on the regulations. You could even upload the vendor response to
the questionnaire and ask it to determine if the vendor had any discrepancies. Note, using Generative
A.I. for this last task, at the moment, is not very reliable, but I believe it will get better with time.
Third, Generative A.I. will speed up the vendor response to these reviews and audits because once the
vendor has built its own knowledge base of its privacy and security program, responding to questions,
no matter how they are worded or phrased, becomes significantly easier and faster.
4. Conclusion
The ultimate goal here is two-fold. Improve the internal relationship between the business teams and the
operations teams and improve the process so that risky vendors are identified early and eliminated. With
Generative A.I., systems of record become more interactive, allowing for quicker and more efficient
querying experiences. This technology can also autonomously develop and refine processes, such as
generating updated vendor questionnaires based on the latest regulations, which optimizes compliance
efforts. Additionally, it promises to expedite vendor responses to reviews and audits by facilitating faster
access to a vendor's privacy and security information. As the reliability of Generative A.I. advances, it will
become an indispensable tool for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of vendor management.
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