Building Flexibility in IT Risk Management

As technology’s role in critical business operations continues to grow, so does the importance of effective IT risk management. The landscape of cyber threats and compliance requirements is constantly evolving, and organizations need to adapt.

However, businesses often struggle to develop a flexible approach to managing risk and security, and many IT leaders recognize the gap between their teams’ current practices and the demands of a changing environment.

According to a recent study, 90% of security leaders believe their organization is falling short in addressing cyber risk, citing challenges like keeping pace with regulatory compliance and unanticipated business risks.

This widespread recognition of inadequate cyber risk management highlights the need to establish or enhance practices that build maturity.

Success Factors for Effective IT Risk Management

Your IT risk management program shouldn’t sacrifice effectiveness for flexibility. However, organizations can take some initial steps to support both agile risk response and long-term program success and scalability.

1. Take risk information and processes out of silos

Integrating cyber risk management with other governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) disciplines provides better visibility of your security and risk posture.

With activities and data siloed in different departments or platforms, it’s challenging to gain an accurate view of risk. Fragmented information and disconnected tools like spreadsheets are not only prone to error, but also make data management and reporting challenging.

Related Reading | Unsiloing Your Data for Better GRC Management >

Quickly responding to shifting risks and threats requires context and reliable data, which is difficult to achieve when each team or business unit manages risk in insolation. Integrated risk processes, on the other hand, help organizations aggregate information and extract actionable insights, make data-driven decisions, and verify compliance and audit readiness.

2. Enable cross-functional collaboration

Siloed information is often a byproduct of ineffective collaboration between business units. When there’s a divide between IT and other departments—such as disparate processes for identifying and assessing risk or inadequate data-sharing—teams will struggle to align GRC activities with organizational strategy and objectives.

Building a risk culture that encourages collaboration will enhance your organization’s ability to act on risk and compliance intelligence and respond to incidents effectively.

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Cybersecurity is top of mind for many executives, with IT disruption ranking as the top operational risk for the past three years in a row, according to the annual survey from Risk.net.

“Given the amount and value of the data firms hold, the number and sophistication of attacks will not recede,” one industry expert explained in the report. “Accordingly, you will never stop all incidents, all the time. This means the response can only be to maximize resilience by identifying critical data and key vulnerabilities, setting tolerance levels and scenarios for disruption and, within those parameters, ensuring continued operability to the extent possible or ensuring a quick recovery.”

IT risks and disruptions pose ongoing challenges for GRC practitioners, and taking a proactive, holistic approach to managing them is critical for minimizing risk exposure and maximizing resilience.

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