Let’s face it, life is full of uncertainty. Every aspect of our existence carries a certain amount of risk, be it in our professional or personal lives. We just need to do what we can to identify and plan for those situations where things can go wrong without putting ourselves in a fearful paralysis state, unwilling to take any chances.
As it is with individuals, so it is with businesses and organizations. There are many uncertainties in the business world—especially in information technology (IT)—and the stakes are high. That’s why smart people have an active IT risk management plan as part of their overall business strategy.
This article explores the concept of IT risk management, including what it is, the overall IT risk management process, the steps in an IT risk management plan, and best practices.
Let’s begin with the fundamentals - defining IT risk management.
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To best answer this question, we must first ask, “What is regular risk management?”. Risk management, without the IT qualifier, identifies, assesses, and controls any threats to an organization’s resources, capital, and earnings. So far, so good.
IT risk management is like basic risk management, except the principles are applied to an IT organization to better manage the risks associated with that particular field. Alternately, we can define it as the policies, procedures, and technology that an organization adopts to reduce threats, vulnerabilities, and consequences that may arise from unprotected data.
IT risks include software and hardware failures, spam, viruses, and other malicious attacks, human error, and natural disasters (e.g., floods, fires, storms).
There is a classic risk equation that aptly applies to IT risk management:
Threat x Vulnerability x Consequence
Every IT risk management framework consists of a series of necessary steps, each summed up with a question.
Risk management should also have answers to the following questions. Note that some of them overlap with the process above, as the entire process is fluid and subject to changes and duplication.
There are currently four standard risk management strategies to choose from. The best choice depends on the nature of the specific risk and the organization’s overall situation. After all, each organization has its set of advantages and faults, so there can’t be a one-size-fits-all solution.
A good IT risk management policy includes a series of best practices. Put these practices into action, and you get a greater likelihood of success with minimal negative impact.
Risk management is but one element of service life cycles. You can find out more about how they interact by checking out this tutorial, ITIL MALC- Key Concepts of the Service Lifecycle Tutorial. The tutorial covers the topic of risk management and its place in the service lifecycle. The IT industry recognizes ITIL as a best practice framework for IT service management, so it’s worth looking into.
CRISC stands for Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control. The ISACA calls it “the most current and rigorous assessment available to evaluate the risk management proficiency of IT professionals and other employees within an enterprise or financial institute.” If you’re serious about learning about risk management, Simplilearn offers this article on CRISC certification training. It explores different aspects of CRISC, including what it is, its importance, and how to get certified.
If you want to understand ITIL frameworks better and enhance your IT Service Management quality, then you should get ITIL certified. Simplilearn offers an ITIL 4 Foundation certification training course that gives you a firm understanding of the ITIL 4 framework, including the core concepts and terminologies of ITIL’s service lifecycle. By the time you earn your ITIL certification, you will understand how ITIL grew and changed to adopt modern technologies, new operational processes, and the necessary concepts in a service management framework.
Offered as a corporate training, self-paced learning, or Blended Learning course, you will gain the benefit of 19 Professional Development Units (PDUs) for self-paced learning and 22 PDUs for online classes. Your workload will consist of 30 chapter-end quizzes, a pair of industry case studies, and two simulation exams. Finally, you get a certification exam voucher to take the test and earn that certificate!
Understanding risk management strategies unlocks many career opportunities in the IT field, offering job security and excellent benefits. For example, IT consultants earn an annual average of USD 78,829, according to Payscale, topping out at USD 122,000.
The course also benefits IT security managers, CIOs, team leaders, and IT architects. Check out Simplilearn today and enhance your IT career (or begin a new one!).
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