Riskonnect, the leader in integrated risk management (iRM) solutions, today released the results of its Crisis Preparedness and Response Survey. Conducted with Compliance Week, the research uncovered that half of the 261 organizations responding were not prepared for the health crisis with an updated crisis management plan, and 48% recognized the need to update governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) processes and technology in the wake of the outbreak.
The survey polled compliance, audit, and risk executives around the globe about how their firms responded to the pandemic and the ways in which the outbreak prepared them for future crises. Key findings include:
- Risk data still resides in multiple sources and needs to be pulled together manually, according to 52% of respondents. Another 11% said their data is siloed and difficult to pull together, and 8% of respondents said they don’t know where their organization’s data is stored.
- The single most challenging crisis-response issue was rolling out revised workforce options, including remote work, according to 24% of respondents. Twenty-two percent said the biggest challenge was keeping up with COVID-related regulatory changes and guidance, while 18% said assessing and mitigating third-party risks and associated challenges.
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- A pandemic or similar global-crisis risk event was not on the radar of potential threats for more than one third (35%) of respondents. Another 36% said it was on their radar, but not to the magnitude experienced. Only 10% had anticipated a potential pandemic of this magnitude.
- The pandemic has raised internal awareness of the risk function. Some 73% said their ability to provide leadership with timely risk- and compliance-related data was “good” or “very good.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic exposed critical gaps across GRC processes. This research underscores the importance of rethinking how we approach, fund, and integrate risk management across the enterprise,” said Andrea Brody, chief marketing officer at Riskonnect. “We must position ourselves to absorb shocks, especially the ones we don’t see coming, and recover quickly, which is only possible when risk management is deeply embedded into strategy and daily operations.”
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