Survey Report: CW survey finds compliance teams struggling to scale due diligence beyond direct vendors
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GAN Integrity2026-01-15T19:17:00
The survey, conducted by Compliance Week in partnership with GAN Integrity between March and April 2025, gathered responses from 181 professionals working primarily in compliance and risk functions. Respondents represented a range of industries, led by financial services, healthcare, government, and manufacturing.
Survey results show that while companies consistently conduct due diligence on direct third parties, oversight drops sharply beyond the first tier. Many respondents cited limited access to data, lack of tools, and staffing constraints as key barriers to extending due diligence deeper into supply chains.
The findings also highlight uneven development across due diligence programs. Some organizations are beginning to integrate AI-enabled tools to streamline screening, monitoring, and document review, while others continue to rely on manual processes and spreadsheets. Interest in AI adoption is accelerating, particularly as teams look for ways to scale oversight without expanding headcount, but most programs remain in early stages of implementation.
The survey provides insight into how compliance teams are balancing risk-based approaches, operational constraints, and emerging technology as third-party risk management continues to evolve.
Key insights from the survey:
- How organizations are prioritizing third-party and deeper-tier due diligence amid expanding supply chains
- Where data limitations, staffing constraints, and tooling gaps are restricting the scale of due diligence programs
- How compliance teams are beginning to use AI to support screening, monitoring, and risk identification while maturity remains uneven
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