Agile Enterprise Risk Management: Risk-Based Thinking, Multi-Disciplinary Management and Digital Transformation

In the VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) world in which we are currently operating the rapid evolution of forces acting on your company, such as technology, are driving continual change to the degree that you will need to be prepared to evolve and transform again and again to keep pace. There is no single target end-state that you can reach that will allow you to take an extended breather. The chances are, you will have to change course, maybe more than once, while executing any substantial transformation you undertake.

If your company is to be sustainable, you will need to perform a Digital Transformation and prepare yourself to manage the numerous, varied and changing risks that go along with it. Authorities on risk management, such as ISO, COSO, OMB and NIST, focus more on what Risk Management should look like once it’s in place than they do on how to get there. They generally leave it up to companies to determine how to organize and implement it, themselves.

Agile Enterprise Risk Management is the discipline you will need to meet this challenge. Managing risks while transforming a company to enable continuous adaptation are substantial, and AERM practices are an evolutionary step away from traditional Risk Assessment, Risk Management and Risk Assurance. The value that Agile Enterprise Risk Management provides is guidance as to how to achieve accelerated RM while continuing to comply with relevant standards.

Although you are now faced with the challenge of performing two transformations simultaneously, it is feasible if you are willing to do it. It is quite possible that you are already doing a lot of what you need to do to succeed at this. Digital transformation and AERM adoption are symbiotic--both require common management disciplines, which must be implemented and exercised in a manner consistent with running a digital business, to be successful. This book provides a road map to achieving this.

Howard M. Wiener is a big-picture Enterprise, Business and Technical Architect who has helped organizations and enterprises define and implement transformation programs for over 40 years. Mr. Wiener integrates Architecture, Risk-Based Thinking and Program and Project Management disciplines to ensure that clients do the right technical things for the right business reasons. He has worked with companies in diverse industries in a variety of roles from programmer to consultant to CIO, with a common theme of helping companies to realize business value from their investments in technology and transformation.