How organisations in EMEA can be risk-ready

Our world is transforming at a pace never seen before. Organisations face a growing set of risks, from economic disruption and cybersecurity threats to fast-changing consumer demands and a changing workforce. Being properly prepared to manage risk among so much volatility is an imperative.

Business leaders who want to maintain growth need to rethink how they battle this new status quo and build sustainable resilience. Ultimately, those who can’t move fast, rapidly adapt to risk, and adopt a data-driven approach can get left behind. Risk-readiness can be broken down into four critical steps.

1. Embrace a holistic approach to risk

Without a unified understanding of where risks lie, it's impossible to identify and address threats in a timely manner.

A holistic approach to risk is a hallmark of truly resilient organisations. This means breaking down functional silos and empowering cross-functional risk management teams­—through an integrated, data-driven and analytical approach—to cultivate a shared understanding and ownership of resilience initiatives.

Research by ServiceNow and ThoughtLab found that 86% of leaders categorised as ‘risk-ready’ in EMEA have already adopted a comprehensive risk approach, compared to just 68% of those categorised as ‘less prepared’.

Building a holistic mindset requires collaboration across all departments—from IT to marketing to finance to human resources—in order to shape a joined-up risk strategy. Standardising risk reviews and scenario planning can help to foster an integrated approach in this crucial area.

The goal is to move beyond reactive, compliance-driven risk management to proactively bake resilience into every area of the business.

2. Secure leadership buy-in

The challenge of thinking about risk holistically lies in getting everyone on board. Our research shows that two-thirds of CEOs don't see the full value of resilient systems and processes in maintaining profitability and competitiveness.

This is a problem, because the culture needed to build and sustain an integrated approach to risk management comes from the top. CEOs play an essential role in driving a vision for risk management throughout a business. Ensuring executive-level alignment is therefore a critical step in driving a culture of preparedness across the organisation.

It’s up to other C-suite executives to focus on making a compelling case for holistic risk management as a business imperative—not just a defensive measure. Ongoing scenario planning, driven by the latest data and insights, along with transparent communication around how resilience is a competitive advantage can help secure CEO sponsorship and buy-in.

3. Choose the right technology

Many existing governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solutions were implemented before large-scale adoption of digital technology. As a result, teams are often forced to use manual, outdated and inconsistent risk management practices that don’t provide a real-time view of enterprise-wide risk.

However, while technology is a key driver of resilience, not just any technology will do. Choosing the right solutions is vital to adapt to evolving trends. How are you differentiating your service to stay competitive? Are you meeting the needs of different demographics to get the best out of each employee? Are you taking a data-driven approach to risk management, by connecting the many data points in your organisation in an automated and trusted way?

Organisations should focus on three fundamental elements: velocity, intelligence, and experience. What that looks like in practice is making work flow smoothly throughout the organisation, driving real-time decision-making and delivering a seamless experience for both employees and customers.

All of this needs to be built on a data-driven culture, with modern risk management approaches embedded into digital workflows to achieve new insights and support better decision-making.

Automated solutions are a powerful enabler here. Their ability to automate processes and uncover hidden efficiencies can help reduce friction and surface critical insights. Armed with greater speed and intelligence, organisations can rapidly make risk-informed decisions and mitigate disruption.

4. Implement the technology in the right way

Building resilience through digital transformation should be considered in four stages:

• Embed a data-driven culture: Driven from the top of the organisation, instil a data-driven mindset, grounded in an all-in-one digital platform.
• Modernise processes: This platform must help reduce friction in the employee experience, minimise the number of processes, and drive simplicity and standardisation by providing modern tools and cutting-edge solutions to the workforce.
• Optimise inefficiencies: Connecting the entire organisation through a digital platform establishes visibility and identifies remaining areas of friction. Those can then be optimised through automation to make decisions in real time and drive down operating costs.
• Fund and sustain future change: Organisations at this stage will be running operations more effectively at a lower cost. This provides the flexibility to plan effectively for the future. The goal is to shift from merely managing today’s debts, legacy systems, and complex trends to addressing tomorrow’s threats through a sustainable data-driven approach.

The path forward

The need for organisational resilience has never been greater. While the challenges may seem daunting, businesses that take a proactive, holistic and data-driven approach—featuring unwavering leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and strategic technological enablement—will be best positioned to navigate an uncertain future.

By following these steps, business leaders can steer their organisation towards a more resilient, adaptable, and future-ready state.

Discover how ServiceNow helps organisations be risk-ready.