Understanding Vendor Criticality Levels

Last updated: September 10, 2026

Vendor Criticality Levels

When adding vendors to your assessment, it's important to classify them correctly based on their impact on your platform. Here are the criticality levels and their definitions:

CRITICAL

  • Customer Data: Direct access to customer data

  • Production Impact: Part of the production environment / service delivery

  • Example: Cloud hosting (AWS), database backup provider

HIGH

  • Customer Data: Processes or stores customer data indirectly

  • Production Impact: Supports a core feature, not infrastructure

  • Example: Email/notification delivery, customer support tool (Zendesk)

MEDIUM

  • Customer Data: No customer data, internal/business data only

  • Production Impact: No production impact

  • Example: Project management, internal analytics

LOW

  • Customer Data: No data of consequence

  • Production Impact: No impact if it fails

  • Example: Payroll, HR platform, office supplies

Assessments are required a least for critical and high-level vendors. You can view the vendor assessments from the corresponding vendors details.