It’s official – the 12th annual RSA Archer GRC Summit is off and running in the great city of Chicago! After a surprise visit from the Blues Brothers - Jake and Elwood, (aptly played by David Walter and Shai Cohen) we got down to business and kicked off our annual event with great style.
When you think about it, Chicago is very apropos as the location for Archer Summit, given this city’s storied past of overcoming
challenges. At the forefront of the United States’ expansion westward, Chicago was a stronghold as the frontier opened up and became a key trading hub. In fact, Chicago mirrors some of the core tenets of governance, risk and compliance:
- GRC acts as a stronghold against risk elements as your business faces new frontiers.
- GRC fosters and protects growth of your business as you explore new opportunities.
- And GRC must be an integral program for organizations going forward.
Each year, the Archer Summit continues to grow – from the number of attendees and the maturity of the GRC industry, to our understanding of the challenges managing a rapidly changing risk landscape. Today's challenging business environment demands scale. Boards and regulators are increasing their scrutiny of business risks. Executives are demanding more organizational agility while at the same time maintaining control. What’s more, organizations’ continued dependence on information technology and the ever-increasing severity of attacks on IT means digital risk is now equally considered with financial, liquidity and supply chain risk.
This is where a scaleable GRC program gives organizations the ability to better manage risk and compliance activities, to focus resources
where they can make the greatest difference to the business. Scale for your GRC program can be defined by two factors. The first is results, which is getting the most value out of your GRC efforts. The second is reach, in creating a common view of risk across various functions throughout your enterprise. As your organization grows in results and reach, your overall GRC program matures and achieves scale.
As risk continues to evolve more rapidly than ever, organizations are decentralizing risk management to put it as close as possible
to where the risk is most visible. At the end of the day, GRC is about how you manage risk for your organization. You are the safety net for when things out of the business' control go wrong, and you provide the environment for strategic initiatives for your GRC program to succeed. But you can no longer do this alone.
The media is constantly alerting us about data breaches, operational losses and compliance violations. The rapid pace of technological
development and shifting business models will result in more and more of these events. Organizations need to mature their program to embed risk management beyond the risk team. We know that if the “first line of defense” (business units) was properly engaged in the risk management process, we could prevent more losses and create an early warning system for potential risk. We could limit attacks, eliminate operational inefficiency, and better enable organizations to achieve their most strategic growth objectives.
That’s why our collective mission must be to “Inspire Everyone to Own Risk.” That is our passion. That is our commitment.
We have a jam-packed schedule of Archer Summit sessions, demos, working groups and other events designed to inspire attendees with ways to mature their GRC programs.
And we’re just getting started!
