Industry Descriptor: A Leading Regional Energy Provider and Critical Infrastructure Operator
The Challenge:
A major energy organization faced significant operational friction in two critical areas: Vulnerability Management and Third-Party Risk. Their security posture relied on legacy reporting that lacked real-time visibility, making risk-based decision-making difficult for leadership. Simultaneously, their Vendor Risk Management process was a heavy administrative burden, characterized by manual assessments and disconnected spreadsheets that hindered the team’s ability to focus on high-level organizational strategy.
The Solution:
The organization deployed a comprehensive “system of action” using ServiceNow SecOps and IRM to modernize these critical functions and integrate them into a single platform.
Key project highlights included:
- Integrated Vulnerability Response: Established a foundation of visibility by integrating vulnerability scanning data directly into the platform. This included risk-based prioritization that enriched vulnerabilities with business context, moving beyond simple technical severity scores.
- Automated Remediation Workflows: Created an intuitive “single pane of glass” for IT remediation teams. This featured auto-assigned tasks, SLA tracking, and one-click Change Request generation to significantly reduce Mean Time to Remediate (MTTR).
- Vendor Risk Optimization: Digitized the vendor assessment process via a self-service catalog. Vendors gained a dedicated portal to complete questionnaires (such as SIG Lite and SOC 2), while internal resources were coached through the initial high-volume assessment phase.
- Closed-Loop Exception Management: Automated the request and approval workflows for security exceptions, including proactive reminders for expiry dates to ensure continuous compliance and no “blind spots.”
The Impact
- From Measurement to Improvement: Real-time management dashboards replaced legacy reporting, enabling leadership to drive behavioral changes based on near real-time data.
- Radical Admin Reduction: By automating the administrative overhead of vendor assessments, risk professionals were freed to focus on strategic risk reduction rather than manual data entry.
- Mature Platform Integration: Vendor risk responses were linked directly to internal control objectives and enterprise risks, creating a holistic view of the organization’s security ecosystem.
- Actionable Visibility: Remediation teams now operate with prioritized tasks and preferred solution data, ensuring they resolve the highest-risk vulnerabilities first.
