This article is part one of a series unpacking the five Call To Actions in IRMSA’s 2021 Risk Report. To learn more about the five CTAs and the report, please read this blog from thryve’s Managing Director.
Achievements and progress alone don’t define a society. A civilisation is also rated by how well it can sustain and support complexity. But complexity stokes uncertainty. It’s hard to predict how the dice may roll and then prepare for those eventualities. How much is too much or too little? Most of the time, leaders take a ‘wait and see’ approach, but that’s no longer an effective strategy. Even if we wait and see, we have to be ready to react.
This is the new reality of companies, and why IRMSA’s second call to action is to become more adaptive and agile. Companies that create an integrated risk management culture become more risk-resilient and respond to threats and opportunities.
In some cases, they are the same thing, especially when a competitor harnesses them first. A competitor with a better grasp on information growth or that can devise more agile business models uses opportunities that, for others, translate into risks. To counter this, companies must handle uncertainty with faster decision-making and maintain a broad option field to explore different scenarios.
Risk management provides the safety rails and safety net to explore options and ask difficult questions. To create such capabilities, thryve recommends five steps:
- Invest in technology
- Define dashboards for different roles and requirements
- Extend risk services to different parties through platform services
- Build an analytics culture that appreciates the value locked in data
- Select technology platforms that are agile and adaptable
Investing in technology is much easier and more manageable than before. Using analytics services such as provided through Riskonnect GRC software, a company can introduce specific capabilities to different stakeholders on their terms. Whether it’s a POC, a focused project, or a wholesale adoption, the right service can align to a company with the help of the right implementation partner – by which we, of course, mean thryve. Our experience in understanding a customer’s risk and strategic processes help us deploy technologies that make productive and cost sense while limiting risk.
Use such technology services to reach the right people with the correct information. You can provide different dashboards and reports, informing people of risk information related to what they want to accomplish strategically. Technology’s speed ensures the feedback loop is quick and remains relevant – no more annual reports or vaguely broad presentations.
thryve’s solutions — which include Riskonnect, Salesforce and Tableau — greatly enhance reporting, dashboards and delivering appropriate risk management information to the right people. thryve’s Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) solution defines the safety net stakeholders want before they leap at a potential opportunity. And don’t limit your focus to inside your company – by using thryve’s Third-Party Risk Management solution, you can see the state of your supply chains and partners.