Newsletter
From cybercrime to regulations: the power of informed risk
August 2020
Technology really does make everything easier
My newsletter columns usually focus on a different perspective. But I want to welcome and celebrate a new addition to thryve’s services. This month we announced the inclusion of LexisNexis’ regulatory information services as part of our Riskonnect offering.
Why is this such a big deal? As some of you know, LexisNexis is the leading provider of legal, standards and regulatory information for businesses. These are notoriously complicated areas that consume considerable time among risk teams, usually researching a regulation or its relationships to other elements, or explaining these nuances to others in the business.
Staying on top of regulations and standards is a full-time job. That time competes with other risk duties, such as auditing and reporting. Nevermind the close relationships risk managers ought to have with other stakeholders. No wonder risk management often becomes a box-checking activity that appears to add little business value. There just aren’t enough resources or time to maintain risk management as a strategic function.
Integrated risk management platform applications such as Riskonnect, which we offer at thryve, help close those gaps. These collect and pool risk data, automate questionnaires and evidence gathering, enable ad-hoc reporting and explorable dashboards, and – above all – give different parts of the company access to relevant risk management functions. One of my favourite examples is that different parts of the business can even use different scoring standards, which Riskonnect consolidates and balances into one risk picture.
Yet for all that power, there was still something missing. Risk managers still spend considerable effort in discovering which rules, laws and standards should apply. Divining the relationships between those and, again, explaining these to others, require a lot of time and energy.
Thus we brought LexisNexis into our solutions. Now our customers can check their legislative and standards requirements against a world-class library or both legalese and plain-spoken insights. These are customised for their specific sectors and markets, and include useful components such as audit questionnaires.
Why is this important? One of the primary goals of digital technology is to take grudge tasks away from employees, automating and smoothing those so the people you pay can do the things that really matter. Adding LexisNexis’ information adds more potency to our already-transformative solutions.
The less time risk managers have to spend sweating the minutiae of regulatory relationships, the more they can bring valuable risk services to the rest of the business. And, in turn, the more seamlessly those employees can access certain risk services – such as intuitive interactive questionnaires of which they can delegate portions – the stronger your risk function will be in your company.
This latest solution from thryve is an example of technology empowering an organisation. It meets business requirements on their terms, not those of the vendor or solution provider.
These are the reasons why I enjoy leading thryve. I’m not a technologist. I’m a bread-and-butter business guy. I have no patience for systems that waste my time. But show me something that saves time and makes people more effective – that’s what business technology should be about. And that is what we’ve introduced with LexisNexis and Riskonnect. I am very excited to see the value our customers gain from it.
Sean Pyott
MD, thryve
