Technology is taking us into the future at a pace that is faster than we previously imagined possible. Our ability to conjure an image of what the world may look like five to ten years down the track is improving, thanks to new strategic planning theories and tools. However, it is our willingness to consider emerging, new categories of risk that is still a stumbling block for many business planners. Some executives and business owners are "risk adverse", preferring to deal with a business interruption as and when it occurs. Yet it is through the discipline of Risk Management that we can improve our ability to survive in the cutthroat world of the modern economy. Risk management, when employed as an integral part of business operations, can improve both the quality and reliability of technology and how it is applied in real life. Most risk assessments revolving around cyberspace take place after an event occurs. This is possibly because many executives are still grappling with what is and isn't possible via the World Wide Web. The value, then, of Risk Management as a strategic tool, becomes more apparent as we push at the boundaries of commerce, law and privacy. Security Managers and purveyors of IT security tools are observing the birth of new types of cyber exposures. Many of these exposures appear around digital preservation, IP address volatility, cyber harassment claims, privacy, hacker attacks, liability for theft of non-owned data and loss or corruption of intangible assets (such as process design theory and other intellectual property). Executives and business owners wanting to continue conducting business via the web, need to educate themselves regarding what these exposures mean for their company and their ability to do business, and their customer's trust in using the web for financial transactions. The developing cyber world is helping create new industries that can assist in mitigating these risk areas. Opportunity knocks, but we only open the door if we recognise the caller. Wouldn't it be nice to anticipate these new technology related exposures, recognise the mitigation when it calls at the door and be in a position to offer it a nice cup of tea? We can begin realising future risk by asking, "What will the world look like ten years hence and how will technology be serving us?" Don't limit yourself to imagining only what your business will be like, because it is also necessary to imagine what kind of customers we may be serving, what their needs may be and how the prefer to communicate with us. The integration of digital and material technologies could give birth to exciting new possibility for improvements in medicine, education and communication. Cyber villages and cyber nomads have begun appearing and are expected to become more prevalent in the new technological cyber reality - creating new business and marketing opportunities. The emergent sub-world supporting these developments, referred to as "Deep Place" by the Institute of the Future, is where it becomes vitally important that we focus our protective strategies. This is where technology, policies, data repositories and skills supporting the new world reside. We must anticipate: "What must we do in order to preserve and support this new ecology?" When we acknowledge and accept both the potential and value of our new culture and become willing to protect it, we will discover that Future Risk Management is our friend and ally in the brave new world. |
