The past few years have brought big changes in companies’ awareness of risks that have been produced through technological innovations. At the same time, regulators are urging many types of businesses to acknowledge greater responsibility for risk management or possibly face the consequence of intervention. 2015 will definitely be the year that many companies must step up their efforts in risk management and risk manager trends are a great indicator of what can be expected throughout the rest of 2015.
Pay Attention To New Regulatory Deadlines
This is especially true for financial institutions which were required to keep pace with big changes such as the Bank Secrecy Act. Financial institutions historically have faced greater risks for security and asset breaches, but now, more than ever, financial institutions and companies of all types must acknowledge that risk management is crucial not only to safeguarding the customer, but also in order to safe guard the company itself from hefty Federal fines that can be levied in light of new OSHA regulations. Industry sponsored cybersecurity sharing forums will become a new trend that many companies will find themselves obligated to participate in in order to better accommodate new compliance and risk management initiatives. Companies that ignore risk management and compliance issues can face more than fines as litigations concerning risk management and compliance increase.
Cybersecurity Risk Will Quickly Move To The Top Of Agendas In 2015
When the results of the FFIEC cybersecurity examinations were released in November of 2014 it showed that, in examinations of more than 500 community financial institutions, most were insufficiently focused on the interconnectedness of apparent cyber risks. This proves that companies need to beef up their first line of defense. This can be done by reviewing third parties and updating and clarifying expectations. In order to be truly prepared for risk management they should expect increased scrutiny. This scrutiny will go well beyond the IT and information security departments.
Vendor Management
As companies begin to think about third party service providers as a risk factor, it will need to be assessed and also managed. Efforts to improve contract management will also prove beneficial in third party management and therefore risk control. As the costs of vendor oversights increases, you may see an additional trend of companies consolidating the number of vendors they contract.
Companies Will Also Begin To Shake Up Their Staff
Expect to see recruiters looking for stronger executives and managers who really understand the new operational risks, cyber risks and compliance issues. Companies that are resistant to change and to new staffing requirements will find additional compliance hurdles pile up over time.
Expect Risk Management Talent To Continue To Shrink
The individuals who are talented as well as experienced in the field of risk management programs are already hard to find. As compliance standards become more intense, companies will find that locating, recruiting and hiring these individuals will become more and more difficult. The solution to this problem is that companies will be forced to find more creative ways to deal with their risk management and compliance issues.
In the absence of risk management specialist “in house” many corporations are turning toward a technological solution. Risk management software provides a comprehensive suite of services that not only help to evaluate risks and compliance across the company but to also deal with insurance and claims issues that pop up. Risk management programs, such as those sponsored through Ventiv, have proven to be the most cost effective way to deal with risk management and compliance in the corporate landscape.
