CROs (Chief Risk Officer) Challenged by IT Risks

Now more than ever, global businesses depend on safe and reliable IT systems to survive.  Because of this dependency on IT processes CROs (Chief Risk Officers) are consumed with finding ways to mitigate risk.  Challenges faced by the CRO (Chief Risk Officers) include being watchful of fraud, managing technology risks when typically their expertise is “not” in technology, and monitoring new situations that constantly require businesses to revise their risk management plans.

The main findings of the survey, “Digital Risk: The Challenge for the CRO,” performed by the Economist Intelligence Unit are listed below:

• technology risks are an executive-level concern that take priority in the global market;
• firms should be mindful of reputation risks since approximately 60% have experienced financial losses from system failures;
• criminal activity is more sophisticated – 55% of survey respondents believe this is a major difficulty for them when managing risks;
• remote working, along with wireless technology, bring increased risks – 57% of survey respondents claim changes have increased their overall risks;
• outsourcing is another reason businesses are faced with increased risk – approximately 69% of the CRO’s surveyed are involved with the selection of an outsourcing vendor.
• IT risk management should be clearly defined among CROs (Chief Risk Officers) and CIOs.  Confusion with work responsibilities related to information technology risk may result in over reliance on one individual or disregarded job duties.

Click below for a link to the full white paper.

Original Article Source: “Digital Risk: The Challenge for the CRO”,  Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Risk Briefing, September 2005