Exerting control over critical IT risk
A key requirement for a well-managed organisation is that it has a mechanism for proactively identifying and evaluating risks. Typically this would sit in the first line of defence and include the population and maintenance of risk registers and a governance structure for discussing risk, risk mitigation strategies and risk appetite.

Technology risk forms a critical component of an organisation’s risk profile but can often be overlooked or given insufficient attention. This is sometimes due to a lack of understanding of technology risk or that technology risk remains outside of the more traditional risk themes often recorded in organisation risk registers. With the proliferation of complex technologies in many organisations, proactive management of technology risk should be considered a priority.

BDO has significant experience of guiding organisations on managing IT risk, from review of IT risk registers to providing guidance on how to set up an effective process for IT governance which can be quickly embedded in an existing organisation risk management framework.  Central to this is understanding the threat scenarios:

• Threat 1: From good to bad – the headline creators
• Threat 2: The strategic technology and data challenges