Risk is an ongoing challenge to manage. As technology, legislation, and business evolves, risk changes form and emerges with new, sometimes surprising exposures. Let's take a look at the top five for 2013.
Cyber Attacks
It’s already been on the agenda this year, but expect cyber attacks to be an even bigger risk next year. Hacking has gone mainstream with groups of benign ‘white hat’ hackers appearing all the time, the dangerous ‘black hat’ hackers will only become more dangerous. To counteract this, business owners will need to ensure they have the most up to date security systems and that all staff are adequately trained in proper data security.
Social Media
Another biggie in 2012 but is due to get bigger in 2013. Social media is becoming an integral part of everyone’s daily life. Almost every business now has a social media presence and the ones that don’t plan to have one next year. These social presences create a number of emerging risks. The main risk is reputation, your social presence represents your business to the world, and misuse can lead to serious reputational damage. The other is data security. It’s easy to share on social media, which means it’s easy to accidentally share something you shouldn’t.
Climate Change/Extreme Weather
The sheer severity and devastation caused by hurricane Sandy took many of us by surprise. The storm had been predicted, but no one was prepared for the level of flooding and damage on the East Coast. The increase in severe weather incidents like this has been attributed in part to climate change. Whatever the cause of this emerging risk, it’s clear that extreme weather events are becoming more common. And they are striking in less common places. Few businesses can afford to completely ignore the potential for natural disaster.
Economic Stability
You may already be sick of hearing about the fiscal cliff and wondering what your financial situation will look like in 2013. But you can’t afford to ignore the risk of serious economic collapse next year. Both the US and Europe find themselves in delicate financial positions at the moment. Predictions in this area are extremely difficult, so business owners need to consider their financial position and make sure they are prepared if the worst does happen.
Something Else…
The nature of emerging risks is that they come from nowhere. There will be risks next year that no one is planning for right now. The only way to protect your business is to assess and manage risk on an ongoing basis. If you only assess risk once a year, the emerging risk that does the most damage to your business could be the one no one expects.
