Iris Blog - How AI Streamlines Workflows and Answers Business Questions

Security questionnaires can feel like a frantic scavenger hunt. Your team scrambles through old emails and random documents, all for one answer. The process is fragmented, manual, and full of copy-paste chaos. This doesn't just slow you down; it puts accuracy at risk and frustrates everyone involved. So, how do you turn this disorganized scramble into a streamlined, efficient workflow? We'll show you the exact steps to centralize your knowledge, save your team's time, and make sure every response is spot-on.

Outdated spreadsheets, endless Teams threads, and reactive workflows slow everything down and create knowledge silos.

That’s why firms are turning to Iris—to eliminate inefficiencies, accelerate response times, and bring order to the madness.

By streamlining security assessments, security teams can move faster, stay accurate, and focus on what really matters: prioritizing their firm's security.

Understanding the Word "How"

It’s a simple, three-letter word we use every day without a second thought. But "how" is a powerful driver of action and information. In the world of sales and security, questions starting with "how" are the ones that really matter. They’re the questions that dig into process, methodology, and capability. Before we get into solving the big "hows" of your business, let's take a quick look at the word itself. Understanding its function can shed some light on why these questions can be so challenging to answer. It’s a versatile little word that can shape a question, connect ideas, or even stand on its own as a concept.

Definition and Parts of Speech

At its core, "how" is all about the method or manner of something. It’s the word we use when we want to understand the way things work. But grammatically, it wears a few different hats. Depending on the sentence, "how" can function as an adverb, a conjunction, a noun, or even an interjection. This flexibility is what makes it such a fundamental part of the English language. Each role helps us ask for and explain the specifics, moving us from a general "what" to a detailed understanding of the process behind an action or claim.

"How" as an Adverb

Most often, you’ll find "how" working as an adverb. In this role, it’s used to ask about the way something is done or the condition of something. Think of questions like, "How did you build this feature?" or "How secure is your platform?" This is the "how" that demands an explanation of process. It’s not just asking *if* something was done, but the specific manner in which it was accomplished. This is the usage that fills business questionnaires and RFPs, requiring detailed, accurate answers.

"How" as a Conjunction

When "how" acts as a conjunction, it connects two parts of a sentence, usually to explain the way something happened. For example, in the sentence, "Our team can show you how we protect your data," the word "how" introduces the clause that explains the method of protection. It serves as a bridge, linking a statement to its supporting details. This function is crucial for building trust, as it allows you to clearly articulate the processes that back up your promises to a potential client.

"How" as a Noun

Less commonly, "how" can be used as a noun. In this context, it refers to the method or manner itself. You might hear someone talk about "the whys and hows of a project." Here, "hows" represents the collection of methods and processes involved. When you’re responding to a security questionnaire, you’re essentially providing the "hows" of your operations—the concrete steps you take to meet compliance standards and protect information, turning abstract policies into tangible practices.

"How" as an Interjection

In some rare and often humorous contexts, "how" can be used as an interjection. While you probably won't see this in a business document, it’s a testament to the word's adaptability. According to Dictionary.com, this usage is sometimes used to imitate American Indian speech, often in older media. It’s a quirky side note that highlights the long and varied history of this simple word and its journey through different cultural contexts and forms of communication.

Common Phrases and Idioms Using "How"

The word "how" is a cornerstone of many common phrases that pepper our daily conversations. Expressions like "How about that?" or "How come?" are second nature to us. "How do you do?" is a classic formal greeting. These idioms show just how deeply embedded the word is in our language, serving as a shorthand to ask for opinions, reasons, and introductions. This everyday utility is a reminder that at its heart, "how" is about connection and understanding—whether you're chatting with a friend or detailing a complex security protocol for a potential enterprise client.

The History and Origin of "How"

This isn't some new piece of business jargon; "how" has been part of the English language for over a thousand years. It traces its roots back to Old English, appearing in texts before the year 900. Its long history underscores its essential role in communication. For centuries, people have needed a way to ask about processes and methods. The fact that this word has endured for so long shows that the need to understand the "how" behind things is a fundamental part of human interaction and, by extension, business relationships.

Pronunciation and Translations

Across most English-speaking regions, the pronunciation of "how" is fairly standard, rhyming with words like "cow" and "now." This simple, consistent sound makes it easily recognizable in spoken language. Its importance is also reflected in its presence across languages, with equivalents like *wie* in German, *comment* in French, and *cómo* in Spanish. The universal need for a word to inquire about manner and method highlights that the questions you face in an RFP are the same fundamental questions businesses are asking all over the world.

From "How" to "Know-How": Answering Critical Business Questions

Every security questionnaire, RFI, or DDQ is fundamentally a list of "how" questions. "How do you manage third-party risk?" "How do you ensure business continuity?" "How do you encrypt customer data?" Answering these questions effectively requires more than just information; it requires institutional "know-how." This is the collective knowledge of your organization's processes, policies, and best practices. The problem is, this critical know-how is often scattered across outdated documents, siloed in different departments, or stuck in the heads of a few key team members.

This is where the real challenge lies. When it’s time to respond, teams scramble to find the right answers, leading to inconsistent, inaccurate, and time-consuming work. The process of answering "how" becomes a bottleneck that slows down sales cycles and introduces risk. To win deals and build trust, you need a way to turn that fragmented knowledge into a reliable, accessible source of truth. You need a system that transforms your company's "know-how" into a strategic asset that anyone on your team can use with confidence.

That’s exactly what an AI-powered response platform is designed to do. By creating a centralized knowledge library, tools like Iris help you capture, verify, and manage your company's know-how. When a "how" question comes up, the platform instantly finds the most accurate, up-to-date answer. This transforms the chaotic, manual process of responding to questionnaires into a streamlined workflow. Your team can answer every "how" with speed and precision, demonstrating your competence and accelerating the entire sales process from start to finish.

The Hidden Cost of Manual Workflows

Manual processes drain time that could be spent on higher-value work. Instead, security teams lose hours to administrative tasks, scattered communication, and the scramble to piece everything together. The cost isn’t always obvious—but it’s felt across the team. And that time could be put to much better use.

One Top 100 Am Law firm we work with was spending nearly 10 hours per security questionnaire. Knowledge was scattered across the team, creating silos. Messaging was inconsistent, content was often outdated, and the overall process felt more reactive than strategic.

After implementing Iris, the difference was immediate. With custom instructions, the team was able to generate responses that reflected the firm’s voice, tone, and formatting standards—significantly reducing back-and-forth and streamlining final approvals. The process now takes just 2 hours.

As one team member put it: “We don’t have to second-guess if the language meets firm standards—if it’s in Iris, it’s safe to use.”

What had once been a manual, disjointed process became consistent, repeatable, and scalable across the firm.

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How AI Transforms the Security Questionnaire Workflow

Accelerate Response Cycles

We get it—we all want to improve efficiency and turnaround times. With Iris, security teams can shift from manual, time-consuming tasks to high-impact work. What used to take 20 hours can now be done in just 2.

How It Works

Getting started is simple. Upload past security questionnaires and policies/ controls. Iris builds a tailored knowledge map and starts generating accurate, contextual responses for every new request.

Improve Accuracy and Consistency

Security language and compliance nuance can be difficult to manage across stakeholders. With pre-approved responses and centralized documentation, Iris helps teams stay aligned and ensures your firm is representing themselves consistently from one questionnaire to the next.

Boost Team Confidence and Preparedness

Teams immediately feel more confident in knowing the answers they provide won’t get held up in final review.

Do More with the Same Resources

AI isn’t about replacing people—it’s about unlocking capacity. Iris helps security teams scale without burning out existing staff or adding headcount.

Unify Institutional Knowledge

Iris brings your firm’s expertise into one centralized system—surfacing the right answers at the right time and eliminating version control issues, Teams rabbit holes, and duplicated effort.

By automating the repetitive parts of the process, Iris gives security teams more space to focus on strategic work—not just staying afloat.

A Note on Spelling: "Worldwide"

When you’re crafting a high-stakes business proposal or responding to a detailed questionnaire, every single word matters. Little details, like the spelling of a common term, can make the difference between a document that looks polished and professional and one that feels slightly off. One word that often causes a moment of hesitation is "worldwide." Is it one word or two? The simple answer is that worldwide, as a single, unhyphenated word, is the correct and universally accepted spelling. The two-word version, "world wide," is an outdated variant that has fallen out of common use and is best avoided in any professional context.

Sticking to the standard spelling ensures your writing is clear, consistent, and free from distractions. In the world of sales and security documentation, precision is everything. An error that seems small can subtly undermine the authority of your message. Think of it as part of your brand's voice and tone—consistency builds trust. By ensuring your team uses the correct terminology and spelling across all documents, you present a unified and detail-oriented front to clients and prospects. It’s a small step that reinforces the overall quality and care you put into your work, from the big picture strategy down to the individual words you choose.

Adjective vs. Adverb Usage

Part of what makes "worldwide" so useful is its flexibility; it can function as both an adjective and an adverb without changing its spelling. As an adjective, it describes a noun, telling you something has a global scope. For example, you might say, "Our company has a worldwide reputation for excellence." Here, "worldwide" modifies the noun "reputation." As an adverb, it modifies a verb, explaining where an action takes place. For instance: "Our software is distributed worldwide." In this case, "worldwide" tells us where the software is distributed. Understanding this dual function helps you use the word confidently and correctly, ensuring your sentences are grammatically sound and your meaning is crystal clear. For more examples, you can always consult a dictionary to see it in action.

Ready to stop losing hours to manual security questionnaires?

See how Iris can streamline your workflow—Schedule a Demo.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why are security questionnaires such a drain on our team's time? It usually comes down to a knowledge management problem. The answers you need are often scattered across old documents, siloed in different departments, or exist only in the minds of a few key people. This forces your team to reinvent the wheel every time, hunting for information and risking the use of outdated or inconsistent answers, which turns a straightforward task into a time-consuming scramble.

How does an AI platform actually make this process faster and more accurate? Instead of having your team manually search for answers, an AI platform creates a centralized, intelligent knowledge library from your company's existing documents. When a new questionnaire arrives, the system instantly finds and suggests the most relevant, up-to-date, and approved answers. This eliminates the manual search and copy-paste work, ensuring every response is consistent and accurate from the start.

Our answers need to be very specific and use our company's tone. Can an AI tool really handle that? Yes, absolutely. A good AI response platform is designed to learn and adapt to your company’s unique voice. By providing it with your past successful responses and style guides, it generates drafts that align with your specific formatting and tone. This means less time spent editing for brand voice and more time focusing on the strategic parts of the proposal.

What does it take to get a system like Iris set up? Does it require a lot of technical work? Getting started is more straightforward than you might think. The initial process involves uploading your existing content—like past security questionnaires, policies, and controls—so the platform can build its knowledge base. It’s less about heavy technical configuration and more about providing the system with the right source material to learn from your company's expertise.

Besides saving time, what are the other benefits of centralizing our company's knowledge? While speed is a major advantage, the core benefit is creating a single source of truth that your entire team can rely on. This improves the accuracy and consistency of your responses, which builds trust with potential clients. It also gives your team more confidence in their work and frees them from repetitive administrative tasks, allowing them to focus on higher-value strategic efforts.

Key Takeaways

Build a Single Source of Truth: Your company's critical "know-how" is likely scattered across emails, documents, and spreadsheets. Creating one centralized, verifiable knowledge library is the foundation for faster, more accurate security questionnaire responses.
Let AI Handle the Repetitive Work: Stop wasting hours searching for answers and manually filling out forms. An AI-powered platform uses your knowledge library to generate precise first drafts, turning a multi-hour task into a quick review.
Free Your Team for Strategic Tasks: By automating the tedious parts of the response process, you give your security and sales teams the time they need to focus on what matters—improving security posture and closing deals, not chasing down information.