Gaining visibility into internal and external risks helps organizations optimise business performance by increasing efficiency, reducing costs, and improving their overall risk posture. However, the ultimate success of any Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) program relies heavily on the selection of proper methodology, content framework, and technology, given the organization's available resources and constraints.

Report Description: The two fundamental purposes of this report are first, to identify the strategies, high-level tactics, internal capabilities and frameworks, technologies, and services that top performing companies are employing to realize substantial business benefits from their Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) programs. Secondly, to provide a roadmap of actionable analysis and recommendations that both companies planning to develop an ERM program for the first time, and companies seeking to augment and optimize an existing initiative can leverage to improve their performance in assessing and managing risks strategically across the enterprise.

As Internet-based businesses build and scale their operations, the need to protect their user's information and their own IT infrastructure becomes increasingly important. Information security is a big concern as recent high profile breaches at leading internet companies have demonstrated, and many Internet-based businesses see the value of using technology to build and sustain robust information security and IT risk management programs that protect them from emerging cyber threats.

The challenge of enterprise risk management programs for many organizations has always been how to quantify "value" and effectively harness data across the enterprise. Risk management consultants believe there is now a solution in emerging data mining and analytic modelling technology that effectively turns "data" into true risk intelligence.

What to do: Be curious, ask questions about how risk is measured, educate yourself and your teams, and reflect back to your stakeholders on how IT components figure into the risk equation.

An effective governance, risk and compliance platform is difficult to implement, but the potential return on investment - in the form of tangible business value and reduced costs - is huge.

For many CIOs and IT managers, the benefits of moving to the cloud—increased efficiency, reduced cost, excellent scalability, pay-as-you-go pricing, the latest technology without the capital expense—are offset by concerns about security and service quality.