Abstract
This paper aims at
assisting in managing Information Technology related risks. Many organizations
have created frameworks for providing guidelines on strategies they will employ
in their risk management program. The aim of most of these IT risk frameworks is
to aid in implementing IT governance so that they may use it in enhancing risk
management. Several strategies have been put forth to deal with risky internal
or external events to the firm. Internal events may include project failures,
operational IT incidents, and mergers. External events include the effects of
new technology, competitors, change in market situations, and new policies and
regulations affecting the IT. All of the events mentioned earlier pose the
risk, and there is a need for a program for assessing and responding to such
incidents. Since IT risks are part of business risks, the risk management
program is usually designed to execute, manage, analyze, control and report on
risk issues within IT. It is crucial to a firm’s overall risk management skills
and effectiveness. If successful, a risk management program provides the
stakeholders, project manager, system analysts, executives, programmers and
other project contributors with confidence that Information Technology can
deliver business value in an efficient and secure way, while ensuring data
integrity, availability, and confidentiality gets maintained.
The Risk Management Program (RMP)
The
process of developing and managing the RMP demands good skills in communication
ad negotiation, creativity, risk management, planning and time management. The
manager’s support and powerful ability are highly required in this program.
Also, the set results should be measurable for the program to work well. The
program will provide guidelines for practitioners on the possible strategies
used in risk management, as well as understand the basic goals to manage risks.
Usually,
the RMP strategies are displayed on a pyramid, where the strategy of high
priority stays on top. To begin with, business drivers are very crucial in risk
management. Business drivers include all those positive factors, resources or
processes that are responsible for an improvement or success of the firm. Many
companies do not clearly identify the key business drivers that are necessary for
risk management program. When they do not align business drivers with the
business goals and directives, then confusion may occur during communication of
the risk vision.
The
risk management program officials may define and set the policies and guidelines
together with the working groups of the IT. The development of such guidelines
should get managed while ensuring that the decision-making processes is fair
amongst the stakeholders. An effective risk management program specifies the
persons who own and are accountable for the definition of organization policies
and standards and provides solutions and guidance in designing
them(Gantz&Philpott, 2013).
Risk
governance aspect is still essential in that it ensures that the risk
management actions are added to the enterprise, thus enabling it to gain a high
risk-adjusted return. In this case, a strong leader should get chosen to manage
the program and in the process, be able to identify the risks that exist in
different views of management- from the enterprise level, country and different
lines of businesses. Risk identification of various views usually provides a
running start for the program.
Tools
and technology are yet other important aspects. They both vary regarding
abilities and maturity. Most organizations may develop risk management systems
or use commercial risk management software. Sometimes they process their
requirements with reporting tools capable of aggregating different risk
elements. However, it is paramount that the organizations reassess the tools to
ensure that they provide relevant reports concerning the level of risk
management as well as reporting on the measures in case a threat or
vulnerability occurs (Lam, 2014). A risk tool should be capable enough to
ensure that it supports the design and improvement of data integrity controls
for risk data.
Processes
and task guidelines present the foundation for execution of risk management
program, and they should get connected with the risk management standard. Some
of the core processes include risk reporting, risk analysis and assessments,
risk mitigation planning, risk measurements and risk acceptance (In Fraser, In
Simkins&In Narvaez, 2015). All these risk management processes should get
aligned with the IT requirements. In fact, larger organizations seeking to
develop the methods consistently, they should use strong communication,
training and focus change management processes.
Risk
identification and profiling is yet another important aspect. Risk profiling
involves finding the highest level of risk depending on the required risk, the
capacity of the risk and tolerance of the risk. Risk rating and prioritization
are crucial aspects in the effort of the firm in defining and aligning risk
management resources in an efficient manner across the program. The last part
of risk profiling process involves ensuring that customer has a real risk and
return expectations. For this reason, the advisor can get the clients
well-informed the decision to execute the strategy (Kouns&Minoli, 2011). On
the other hand, risk identification involves discovery, definition,
description, documentation and communication of risks before they grow to and
adverse and unmanageable level. Some aspects such as Key Risk Indicators (KRIs)
should get identified. KRIs should get included in every IT process and domain.
Functional
Management structures are appropriate in enabling the firm to move from
initiative process to a full program that has enterprise-wide task capabilities
for risk management in IT. Many businesses underestimate the required time
frame for risk management maturation (Kouns&Minoli, 2011). Mostly, it may
take several years from program initialization to successfully manage the risk
processes into functional procedures that get included in every area of a large
world-class organization. Therefore, organizations should understand the target
environment; final state ends the immediate solutions.
Finally,
the compliance, monitoring, and reporting is the most important part of the
program strategy. In this case, the firm develops its processes to analyze if
they comply with the defined policies, standards, procedures and requirements.
By monitoring and reporting the management can oversee organization views and
explain the risks, vulnerabilities and control issues. During the design of
measures for surveillance and reporting, most organization initialize with the
end product to ensure that their measures are according to management's vision
and requirements (Gantz&Philpott, 2013). Reporting the measures is critical
for organizations see the value of the program and to ascertain that the risk
management processes get executed.
Conclusion
The
process of developing a risk management program usually involves challenging
tasks. However, when the program gets designed correctly, it aids in aligning
the critical areas so that the risk management objectives get successfully met.
Risk management involves a learning process of identifying levels of risks and
the solutions. When the program gets successfully implemented, the respective
organizations earn so many advantages, not only markets but also in resource
management, minimization of expenditure and risk management efficiency.
References
Gantz, S. D., &Philpott, D. R.
(2013). FISMA and the risk management framework: The new practice of
federal cyber security. Boston: Syngress.
In Fraser, J., In Simkins, B. J.,
& In Narvaez, K. (2015). Implementing enterprise risk management:
Case studies and best practices.
Kouns, J., &Minoli, D.
(2011). Information Technology Risk Management in Enterprise
Environments: A Review of Industry Practices and a Practical Guide to Risk
Management Teams. Somerset: Wiley.
Lam, J. (2014). Enterprise
risk management: From incentives to controls.
Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at Melda Research in <a href="https://www.meldaresearch.com">already written essay</a> if you need a similar paper you can place your order for <a href="https://researchpapers247.com/nursing-paper/">nursing writing services</a>
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