Is TPRM Agentic AI, um, SAFE?

Third-party risk management (TPRM) tools take varying approaches to automated vs. manual operations.

The company SAFE addressed automation in a July 15 press release. It uses the trendy term “agentic AI” so it must shift paradigms and optimize outcomes.

After stripping out the PR fluff, here’s some of what’s left.

“[SAFE] announced the expansion of its Agentic AI strategy with the release of 12+ new autonomous agents, over the next 3 months, purpose-built for third-party risk. The next two AI agents are SnapShot and BreachWatch which help organizations proactively organize AI summaries and identify third-party breaches respectively….

“‘Legacy solutions weren’t built for risk landscape,’ said Saket Modi, CEO and co-founder of SAFE. ‘SAFE is transforming TPRM….’”

But if I could offer a marketing word of advice to TPRM firms, the “we are better than legacy TPRM firms” message has jumped the shark. EVERYONE is better than legacy TPRM firms these days; you are nothing new. No one is completely manual any more. It’s like comparing a Tesla to a bicycle. Or any basketball team to the Washington Generals.

The real question is HOW you use your automation, and how accurate your automation is. Speed alone is not enough.