Why customers send them
Before a company shares data with a vendor, its security team needs to know how the vendor protects it. A questionnaire is how they ask. A slow or vague answer can hold up a contract for weeks.
Common formats
| Format | From | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SIG and SIG Lite | Shared Assessments | Detailed standard questionnaire; Lite is the shorter version |
| CAIQ | Cloud Security Alliance | Questions mapped to the Cloud Controls Matrix |
| Custom spreadsheets | The customer | The most common kind; wording varies but the topics repeat |
A repeatable way to answer
- Keep an approved answer library. Write each answer once, have it approved, and reuse it.
- Answer from evidence. Every claim should point to a policy, control or report you can show.
- Give each questionnaire an owner and a due date.
- Be precise about gaps. "Not yet, planned for Q1, here is the compensating control" builds more trust than a vague yes.
- Offer your report. A SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certificate often replaces large parts of a questionnaire.
How Doniastack helps
Doniastack tracks every questionnaire from received to submitted, keeps an approved answer library, and links answers to the controls and evidence behind them.
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