CIOs see their role expanded by third parties and adverse events

CIOs are experiencing a shift in perspectives due to the impacts of Covid-19 and the global IT outage, which have highlighted the need for more robust third-party risk management and business continuity practices. CIOs are now questioning the single source model for vendor relationships and are adopting supply chain strategies to mitigate risk. They are also becoming more involved in business continuity planning, as they recognize the importance of IT resilience in the face of disruptions.

Some key factors and considerations for CIOs are:

• Third-party risk management: Review and update their third-party risk management processes, taking into account the depth and complexity of third-party relationships.
• Supply chain strategies: Adopt supply chain strategies to mitigate risk, such as creating redundancy and switching suppliers based on reliability and risk factors.
• Business continuity: Share IT perspective to the business continuity program, and ensure that the program is comprehensive and addresses enterprise risk.
• Reputational risk: Be aware of the reputational risk associated with system outages and disruptions, and be prepared to respond quickly and effectively.
• Prioritization: Prioritize risk areas to be more thoughtful about resources and allocate them accordingly.