Riskology

Global events of recent years have put non-financial/emerging risks into sharp focus for boards and directors. From an increase in cyber attacks and the impacts of COVID-19 to the heightened public awareness around workplace sexual harassment and climate change, organisations must now have a clear strategy and processes in place to manage the many emerging risks. 

In this article we look at the biggest non-financial risks that businesses are facing, explain why your board needs to pay attention to them and discuss what you can do to mitigate them.

The pandemic and several high-profile cybersecurity incidents last year have helped make risk management and compliance a top priority for businesses.

Today, cyber attacks are becoming more frequent, sophisticated and damaging, so protecting your data has never been more important. Recently, there have been some high profile local cases, with Optus, Medibank and Woolworths all experiencing significant data breaches. This has prompted regulators in Australia to increase penalties for serious or repeated breaches from $2.2 million, up to a maximum of $50 million. 

Today, organisations are facing a multitude of uncertainty and potential risks that are seemingly everywhere. Ongoing rapid technological advances are increasing the potential for large scale data breaches. Thankfully, a flexible and dynamic risk management approach can do much to mitigate this heightened and ever-evolving level of risk.

Reducing your organisation’s environmental footprint is now a priority, and it all starts with good policy, whether internally-driven, in response to your legal obligations, or both. For your policy to be effective, you’ll need to keep and maintain accurate records of environmental impacts and sustainable practices so you can measure outcomes and map out improvements.

The good news is, that with the right software, improving, reporting and monitoring environmental outcomes in your organisation can be easier. Read on to find out more.