The business landscape is more unpredictable than ever. Wildly changing external factors including geopolitical risks, regulatory change, technological innovation and consumer sentiment and unrest are more forcefully shaping how businesses act. This is driving the acceleration towards more holistic risk and compliance management. The two functions can no longer be siloed, but instead pushed as a single operation that can be used by upper management to make informed decisions.

In regards to changing consumer sentiment, we’re soon going to see one of the disruptive internet-based companies become truly unstuck. For too long they have been able to act outside of regulations – conducting themselves in ways that perhaps even place customers at risk. They bank on their services creating such convenience that the consumer support generated makes it too much of a beast for regulators to tackle. However, as more examples of unethical behaviour – such as unvetted employees, concealed data breaches or links to illicit material – come to light, that support is being rapidly eroded.

The speed with which consumer sentiment can switch is forcing businesses to look inwards at their own internal processes and implement self-governance. Consumers want to buy from companies that they believe are operating ethically, so businesses must take it upon themselves to ensure that these standards are adhered to throughout the entire enterprise. Furthermore, keeping operations consistent makes them more resilient to outside changes and helps to ensure continuity even during the most testing of times.

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