Survey findings deduced that spreadsheets (76%) are the most commonly used tool among all technologies, closely followed by risk assessment (52%)

Despite plans for digitisation, most risk functions are still using traditional technologies in risk management, according to a new survey from PARIMA and Marsh.

The survey findings deduced that spreadsheets (76%) are the most commonly used tool among all technologies, closely followed by risk assessment (52%) and tracking (38%) tools. Fortunately, risk professionals are hopeful and expect large gains from emerging technologies, such as predictive analytics (26%) and data engineering (22%), as compared to traditional technologies. 

Speaking at the launch of the survey results, PARIMA’s General Secretary, Steve Tunstall, said this serves as a wake-up call for risk managers.

“Repetitive and tedious functions will be replaced by robots. 76% of risk managers still use spreadsheets as their most commonly used tech programme,” he said.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let me repeat those 2 sentences again. Repetitive and tedious functions will be replaced by robots and 76% of risk managers are still using spreadsheets.”

“In today’s disruptive technological landscape, this finding is really something all risk managers should take note of or they will risk getting left behind, directly impacting their organisations too.” 

Technology advancements provide potential solutions for risk managers to improve effectiveness and spark business insights. In particular, the risk profession may reap significant technology dividends by leveraging innovations in three key areas:

  1. Data: Building a rich risk database of real-time big data from new sources (e.g. cloud accounting, application programming interfaces (APIs), social media, geolocation software, etc.)
  2. Analytics: Generating forward-looking risk-informed insights (e.g. machine learning, predictive forecasting)
  3. Processes: Digitising the risk function to boost efficiencies and reduce costs (e.g. robotic process automation for risk monitoring)

Risk professionals were also surveyed on the technologies they were currently using, and what they were planning to use.

 

Topics