A joined-up risk strategy for joined-up rewards
From talent shortages to rising business costs and supply chain disruption, the challenges facing organisations are hugely complex and interconnected. According to research by PwC, 96% of organisations have faced disruptions in the last two years, with 76% stating “their most serious disruption had a medium-to-high impact on operations.”
Organisations looking to remain resilient should aim for a holistic, joined-up risk strategy. Treating individual business risks in silos only compounds disruptions, as a change in one can have a rapid knock-on effect across various parts of an organisation, from employee experience to customer service.
Shaping a joined-up risk strategy
Just as a joined-up customer and employee experience can build resilience, so too can a joined-up risk strategy, by creating a clear birds-eye view of operations. Complete visibility enables an understanding of the current risks, their potential impact and, crucially, how they can be addressed before they cause any issues.
Implementing this effectively should begin with educating staff at all levels and in all departments about best practices in risk management. Business leaders, from chief financial officers to chief information officers, must be accountable for their departments’ risks. At the same time, they should make it an integral part of everyone’s responsibilities.
That said, people are only one piece of the puzzle; investing in the right supporting technology is just as important. According to research by ServiceNow and ThoughtLab, organisations are already using technology to achieve greater resilience: 79% of ‘risk-ready’ organisations—those most prepared to address risks—are actively taking steps to digitise and automate workflows now and over the next two years.
What’s more, 44% of risk-ready firms believe that technology will enable them to detect and respond to risks in real time by the end of the decade.
Reaping the rewards
It’s critical to strike a balance between people and technology. The key here is a digital platform at the centre of an organisation that can connect disparate systems of record. Businesses can gain complete visibility over technology integration and, at the same time, secure confidential information.
The ServiceNow Vancouver platform release provides a zero-trust security framework that safeguards access to resources. With data kept firmly under lock and key, organisations can focus on adopting integrated technologies to support best practices in risk management.
More specifically, automation can help organisations drive a more proactive approach to resilience. By streamlining incident identification, as well as driving greater response time and team productivity, automated workflows enable greater agility when addressing vulnerabilities, issues, and outages across the organisation. Being able to manage these processes at speed is likewise a boost for operational efficiency and helps organisations gain the full value of their investment.
The path to long-term resilience
With a joined-up risk strategy and the right technology, it becomes altogether easier to enable growth and resilience. When approached holistically, risk management provides the flexibility to adapt and innovate in ways that can cut costs, reduce complexity, and drive efficiency. It’s a balancing act, but the better prepared you are, the more substantial risks you can undertake and the greater the potential payoff.
Discover how integrated risk management can build resilience for your organisation.