Despite Turbulence, Nearly Half Of Firms Are Flying Blind On External Risk

London, UK – September 30, 2026. With the Strait of Hormuz crisis disrupting global trade, AI agents choosing their own cyberattack targets, the cost of debt reaching 20-year highs, and regulators in the EU and China expanding their reach, organizations can no longer afford to take a passive approach to the management of external risks. Yet new research from Verdantix, the trusted intelligence provider for software and services firms, reveals that nearly half of corporate risk leaders either gather risk intelligence by manually searching the internet, or have no mechanism for doing so at all. However, Verdantix research shows that firms are moving to remedy this visibility gap, with more than 60% planning to boost risk intelligence budgets over the next 12 months as they turn to technology to help them identify, contextualize and respond to external threats before they disrupt operations.

The Verdantix Green Quadrant: Risk Intelligence Software (2026) report provides a detailed benchmark of eight prominent risk intelligence software providers, revealing a market that is expanding rapidly but remains fragmented across multiple software categories and use cases. Despite this diversity, competition is converging around three core areas: data, insights, and technology. Vendors are racing to strengthen data quality and coverage, generate more actionable insights and apply increasingly sophisticated technology to deliver greater value to users. Leading providers are investing in real-time monitoring and AI and domain expertise, strengthening customization, integration and security, and combining technology with human analysis to deliver validated intelligence tailored to the risk priorities of their users.

As these risks become interconnected with business operations, the task of choosing the right solution has become more complex, with buying decisions now involving operations, finance, legal, compliance and technology teams, alongside risk. The Green Quadrant: Risk Intelligence Software (2026) report helps buyers identify the platforms best aligned with their specific risk priorities and requirements. In the study, Corlytics, Seerist and Sphera demonstrate the most advanced risk intelligence capabilities among the vendors assessed.

Key report findings:

• Risk intelligence is a specialized market serving distinct risks and users. Verdantix identifies eight categories of risk intelligence software, each addressing different risk requirements. Vendors are tailoring their solutions to the data, workflows and intelligence needs of specific functions and use cases, with firms such as LRQA acquiring several sustainability advisory firms to deepen their domain expertise.

• Data breadth, quality and monitoring are key areas of competitive differentiation. Vendors are expanding the volume and range of external data they monitor and are improving in terms of filtering, validating and contextualizing that data. Sphera stands out for real-time monitoring and extensive nth-party risk coverage, tracking 15 billion data points across 60,000 suppliers to provide visibility across complex risk networks.

• AI is accelerating the shift from risk monitoring to actionable intelligence. Vendors such as Corlytics are applying agentic AI to analyse large volumes of structured and unstructured data, surface relevant signals and help users assess emerging threats faster. Robust guardrails and controls support trusted outputs for highly regulated users.
• Human expertise remains critical to high-stakes decision-making. Leading providers are pairing technology with analysts who validate and contextualize intelligence. Seerist, for example, combines human analysts with advanced technology to deliver fast, reliable intelligence for life safety use cases.

“Risk leaders are operating in an environment where external events can move rapidly from a distant signal to a material business risk, while the growing interconnectedness of risks means that simultaneous events across geographies can compound impacts and rapidly escalate business exposure," said Luis Nino, Senior Manager at Verdantix. "Buyers need accurate, timely intelligence tailored to their specific risk priorities, not simply more data. Organizations are looking for technology that can identify what matters, put it into context and deliver relevant intelligence to the people who need to act. The providers best positioned to lead will be those that combine data quality, AI and domain expertise with deep integration into GRC and other enterprise platforms."