The Risk Implications of Smart Technology

Artificial intelligence, drones, and the internet of Things are some of the most exciting developments happening in the tech world, but with these advancements come new and unforeseen risks for companies, governments and private citizens.

Last week, The Risk Institute hosted a continuing professional development session on the risk implications of smart technologies with experts from DHL, Cisco, EY and The Ohio State University.

“Ten years ago, people thought of drones as something used by the military on covert operations. Today, drones are available for a couple bucks and can fit in your pocket,” said Jim Gregory, Director of the Aerospace Research Center at The Ohio State University.

Gregory believes that the possibilities of drones are far-reaching, from package delivery to search and rescue, but that in order for the economics to work themselves out, the legality of drones needs to shift because under the current FAA regulations, most of these use cases are still illegal.

The most significant risks involving drones are

  • Loss of control link
  • Collision with another aircraft
  • Collision with people or property on the ground
  • Emergent behavior of autonomous system

Many of those risks can be mitigated with “redundancies on redundancies,” which according to Gregory can take the form of robust control links and never allowing one system to become so important that its failure results in catastrophic failure of the entire system. These redundancies are also essential in artificial intelligence.

“Artificial intelligence is not a singular concept,” said Chris Aiken, Executive Director, Advisory Services. “It’s a science-based, multi-disciplinary combination of software and computations presented in a human-like manner.”

Just as the cotton-gin spurred on the first industrial revolution, many experts believe that artificial intelligence will fundamentally shift the workforce, but are also quick to point out that AI is not necessarily smarter that humans, it’s just different.

“The real power of AI is to augment and amplify human intelligence and performance,” said Aiken.

And world leaders are taking notice with the competition between countries like China, Russia, Canada and the United States heating up for a global arms-race to dominate AI.

But what value is there in artificial intelligence really? According to Aiken, the real value of AI exists in five areas:

  1. Revealing insights
  2. Optimize performance
  3. Harness automation
  4. Enhance experience
  5. Sustain trust

As with any disruptive technology, it’s valuable to consider the predominant ethical, legal, risk and social issues associated with it. In the case of AI, companies should:

  • Start any project by examining the ethical and legal impacts
  • Evaluate the consequences on jobs
  • Communicate to win employee approval

Building trust between the user/impacted parties and AI is imperative for the success of the technology and business. Taking a holistic, human-centered approach, focusing on outcomes, and being pragmatic and ethical are common sense steps to take in order to build trust.

The Risk Institute remains committed to leading the conversation on risk in partnership with our member organizations. We examined the risk impacts of artificial intelligence in the risk function in our 2018 Survey on Integrated Risk Management. The findings might surprise you.

Organziational Culture and the Future of Risk

Risk Institute Executive Director Philip S. Renaud was the La Fleur guest lecturer at Hood College this week where he gave a keynote address on organizational culture and the future of risk management.

“Risk isn’t just insurance, actuarial, cost center, process or program,” says Renaud. “World-class risk management is achieved when an organization treats risk as a value.”

His presentation (which can be viewed here) takes the audience on a journey of risk management practices through the years. From risk transfer, insurance and accounting focus of the 1960s to captives in the 1980s to enterprise risk management and cybercrime mitigation of the present, the risk management professional today is just as likely to have an IT background as an insurance or finance background.

Renaud believes that an organizational culture that’s conscious of risk should look at three things: integrity, commitment and transparency.

“Organizations that are lacking in one or all of these spheres are the same organizations you see on the news for one scandal or another,” says Renaud. “Wells Fargo, BP, United, VW — these are companies who’s lack of transparency and integrity have cost them their good brand reputation, their stock price — not to mention the loss of public trust and in some cases landed their leadership in jail.”

Renaud believes that the future of risk management is bright and filled with opportunities for young professionals entering the field. According to a recent survey from the Risk Management Monitor, more than 60% of risk professionals are 55+ and will be eligible for retirement in the next five years, opening the door for bright, young professionals to move into more senior roles more quickly.

When asked if he could offer one piece of advice to companies on seeking to improve their organizational culture, he said, “Cultivate transparency. A lack of transparency is always viewed as deceit.”

Phil Renaud is the Executive Director of the Risk Institute at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business. The Risk Institute is a research center bridging the gap between academic research and practitioner experience in enterprise risk management.

FCPA & Ethics highlighted at latest Risk Series

Ethics is more relevant than ever before; In public and private entities, ethical decision making seems to have taken a back seat to short-term profitability be it monetary gain or popular opinion. Companies like Volkswagen, Wells Fargo and Equifax are seeing share prices in freefall while simultaneously dealing with a public relations nightmare.

The Risk Institute hosted its first continuing professional development session of the academic year on October 11, 2017, on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and ethical decision making. Speakers included David Freel, a professor at The Ohio State University; Eric Lebson, a vice president at the Crumpton Group; Vlad Kapustin from New York Life; and Bill Foale, an investigator from EY.

Globally, corruption accounts for more than 5 percent of the global GDP — more than $2.6 trillion. Most of that corruption occurs in developed countries with approval from senior management. Which leads us to think that the tone at the top and organizational culture need work.

Organizational culture is the shared beliefs or expectations that influence thinking and behavior; it’s the glue that holds the company together. According to Prof. Freel local companies Nationwide, Cardinal Health are best-practice examples of excellent, ethical organizational culture.

And ethics is important to consumers too. The data currently says that consumers are more likely to do business with companies they perceive to be of a high moral fiber.

Since a company’s ethics is a priority to consumers, it could be assumed that strides have been made across industries to clearly define ethical behavior for its employees, provide training, improve whistleblower policies, etc.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Over the last 30 years, there’s virtually been no change in anti-corruption policies. According to Eric Lebson, “It’s difficult to get a company that has never experienced a FCPA incident to take action.”

An FCPA investigation can be crippling. On average, an FCPA investigation lasts 3.7 years, 92.42% of defendants who settle with SEC, and 76.44% of defendants who settle with DOJ.

Bill Foale encouraged executives to empower their audience to make compliance second nature. Many anti-corruption policies are dense and jargony and therefore difficult for even a native English speaker to comprehend. Foale suggests asking the following questions about your anti-corruption policies:

  • Is the material understandable?
  • Is it written in a way that the information is relatable to the audience responsibilities? As in, not just a list of “do nots” and includes examples of practical tips
  • Language? Keep in mind that many of your employees may be native English speakers.
  • Is there a resource available for questions/assistance?

Many ethical challenges like transparency, privacy, self-interest, and data protection lie ahead. But with proper prior preparation, any organization can avoid ethical conflicts.

For more on this topic and many others, visit fisher.osu.edu/risk. Risk Series V continues on November 14 with a conversation on Mergers & Acquisition Risk. M&A is a high stakes game and getting it right matters. Join The Risk Institute and our experts from academia and industry for a lively discussion about the delicate balance of risk and reward in M&A.

July summer session takes deep dive into critical work-force challenges

The U.S. work-force is at a turning point, with change swirling everywhere: Millennials are now the largest generation in the workplace. Baby boomers – and their decades of institutional knowledge – are nearing retirement after putting it off during last decade’s recession. Constant technological leaps are rewriting the rules for the skill sets that matter.

What does this mean for organizations trying to attract and hire today’s talent? How does this change the game for their ongoing efforts to build culture and develop their existing employees?

The Center for Operational Excellence is teaming up with three other centers for a pair of summer sessions focused on today’s greatest business challenges. The first, “Human Capital and Talent Management,” tackles these vital work-force development issues and on the morning of Tuesday, July 18, at the Fawcett Center.

At this session, gain insights on this issue from three compelling angles:

  • M. Gootman, Brookings Institution

    The Big Picture: Brookings Institution Fellow Marek Gootman will be unveiling results of a new work-force survey conducted in conjunction with the National Center for the Middle Market. The survey, set to be released in late June, looks at how middle-market companies – the fastest-growing segment of the economy – are responding to large-scale shifts in work-force dynamics to hire and retain workers.

  • The Ground War: Join talent management VPs Maura Stevenson (Wendy’s) and Kelly Wilson (Cardinal Health), and Kathy Smith, AVP Executive Succession and Development at Nationwide Insurance, for a moderated panel and audience Q&A session on how their organizations are responding to these work-force trends.
  • The Pipeline: Jamie Mathews-Mead, senior director of graduate career management at Fisher closes out the session with a look at how the college is preparing students to best meet companies’ rapidly evolving needs.

After the presentations, enjoy a networking lunch with members of other Fisher and Ohio State centers. Registration is set to open in June, with limited seating available for members and partners of each center.

The second summer session, set for Wednesday, Aug. 16, focuses on the explosion of data and digital disruption companies face and features a keynote from Jeremy Aston, senior director at communication tech giant Cisco. More details will be announced next month.

Post Executive Education Series, “Identify, Plan, Protect: Using Cyber to Your Advantage”

On April 19,2017,  The Risk Institute at The Ohio State University, Fisher College of Business held an engaging conversation, as part of its Executive Education series, on the topic, “identify, Plan Protect: Using Cyber to your Advantage”.

As we see on an almost daily basis, Cyber Risk and Crime has become a part of our lives. During the first few weeks of 2017, we witnessed a large restaurant chain’s register payment systems impacted and a large business services firm’s marketing database with over 33 million corporate contacts shared across the web. Without much difficulty multiple other examples are found that cross any number of industries.

We were fortunate to have had Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine introduce the topic to our audience of executives. AG DeWine is passionate about Cyber Crime and Cyber Risk and its impact upon the citizens of Ohio.

The session focused on raising the conversation of the obvious current situation with regard to Cyber Risk and Crime, but also considered risk mitigants that businesses can take.  The speed at which crisis communication and Public Relations plans are treated and managed are certainly at the forefront of dealing with Cyber challenges within business.  So much so, that the phrase “Fiasco Vortex” has been coined (see Glass Jaw by Eric Dezenhall). In the 21st Century, communication never sleeps. We live in a 24/7 news cycle that demands a much different treatment to Cyber Risk and Cyber business continuity planning.

An organizations business continuity plans will need to be tested to respond to geographic specific exposure that could have wider impact upon the business and it customers. Our speakers highlighted, from their diverse experiences and backgrounds, how companies can take a proactive approach to Cyber Risk and Crime.

Session leaders, Helen Patton, CISO, The Ohio State University; Jim Trainor, SVP, Aon Cyber Solutions and former FBI head of the FBI Cyber Division, Washington, DC; David White, CIO, Battelle Memorial Institute; David Lyon, Senior Manager, The Crumpton Group, LLC, collaborated to provide insight into:

  • Cyber a View from the CISO Trench
  • Cyber Threat Landscape 2017 and Beyond
  • Cyber Security’s Impact on IT Operations
  • The Role of Intelligence in Cyber Attacks: Offense vs. Defense

The session emphasized how to proactively use risk management to balance the risks related to Cyber Risk in order to meet business goals and enhance business performance.

The session did an excellent job of creating thought provoking ideas and advancing The Risk Institute’s unique role in uniting industry thought leaders, academics and highly respected practitioners. This is an ongoing dialog to advance the understanding and evolution of risk management in our world today. The Risk Institute’s conversation about risk management is open and collaborative with its relevance across all industries and its potential for competitiveness and growth.

How Work Culture Impacts Brand Reputation

Work culture has been defined as “the interactions of all employees which in the aggregate creates a picture of how things get done and what matters inside the organization” (Gebler 2017). Culture, at a point, intersects with brand reputation in that it can be considered two sides of the same coin. Reputation comes from the external belief of your company behavior, while culture is how people inside your company behave and reaffirm those beliefs.

Earlier this month, we held a thought-provoking session that explored how work culture and impacts brand reputation, specifically exploring the conversation from the perspective of academics and business leaders.

Session presenters included:

  • David Gebler, of Indiggo, Washington, DC has over twenty years’ experience working with global organizations on how to reduce people based risks while improving productivity and corporate reputation. Named as one of America’s top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior.
  • Dennis Hirsch, Professor of Law and Director of the Program on Data and Governance at The Ohio State University. In 2010, he served as a Fulbright Senior Professor at the University of Amsterdam where he produced a leading study on Collaborative Dutch data protection regulation.
  • Bob Bowman, Director Risk Management, The Wendy’s Corporation. Bob has a diverse risk management background with Macy’s for many years and since 2014 with Wendy’s. Bob’s background and responsibility include enterprise risk, business continuity, data and privacy risk management.
  • Lowell (Chip) Howard, Jr., Honda North America, Inc. Chip is General Counsel- Manufacturing at Honda North America and has responsibility for HNA Law Division’s offices in Ohio, Alabama, Indiana and South Carolina.

At its core, culture and brand reputation have effective leaders and leadership as an underlying foundational element.  From that core, effective leaders develop engaged employees who develop loyal customers.

The impact of Big Data on culture and brand reputation begins with what Professor Hirsch refers to as the Three V’s: volume, velocity and variety.  The fourth attribute is correlation.  The use of big data can bring great benefit, but also significant risk to a brand. A now classic example is when Target figured out that a teen girl was pregnant before her father did.

The Target Example

Target assigns every customer a Guest ID number, tied to their credit card, name, or email address that becomes a bucket that stores a history of everything they’ve bought and any demographic information Target has collected from them or bought from other sources. (Forbes) Target then uses this data to create highly personalized marketing materials.

In the case with the pregnant teen, she received a mailer containing only advertisements for baby products. Her father saw the mailer and become enraged, as he thought that Target was encouraging her to become a teen mother. After some back and forth with his local Target’s management, where Target apologized for the error, the father returned to the store and informed management that his daughter was indeed expecting.

Target and many other companies continue to utilize big data in order to generate a customized consumer experience. But now, in order to mitigate the risk of revealing consumer secrets and just generally spooking people, Target incorporates those customized advertisements in with the regular circulars.

Big data certainly has massive benefits for companies and the consumer when applied thoughtfully and strategically, but can create headaches for brands when used too liberally.

Thinking Practically

Bob Bowman and Chip Howard engaged the audience in discussion about how their respective companies leverage positive company culture towards a positive brand image.

At Wendy’s, culture and values are everything, going all the way back to Dave Thomas, the company’s founder. Bowman expounded on some of the trials Wendy’s have been through over the years — from fingers in chili to viral Frosty videos — and how Wendy’s leveraged its brand equity and relied on culture to see them through varying crises.

Values inform culture at Honda too, in the form of the three joys — the joy of buying, the joy of selling, and the joy of creating — and respect for the individual. Howard explained to participants that every Honda employee are encouraged to “find their Honda joy” because Honda believes that when associates work towards their own happiness first, the company will grow as a result.

Takeaways

  • Brand reputation and company culture are two sides of the same coin.
  • Effective leaders develop engaged employees which ultimately lead to loyal customers. At the core is effective leadership.
  • In managing big data and big data analytics risk, we must be careful to consider the potential impacts of the data, the correlation of the data, how that data could profile and what predictions can be made using the data.
  • Significant benefit can exist from the big data analytics. Risks, however, are present to include privacy violation, legal and regulatory, as well as the consequential brand and values impact.
  • Wendy’s core belief is that their success is based on the relationship with the customer. The foundation is food, which relationship is enhanced or eroded by behavior and trust is earned when both are delivered in a predictable consistent manner.
  • The Honda philosophy is built on a foundation of respect for the individual. From that fundamental belief, they believe that;
    • Initiative — Associates should not be bound by preconceived ideas.
    • Equality — Recognize and respect individual differences in one another and treat each other fairly.
    • Trust — The associate relationship should be based on mutual trust.

The Risk Institute at The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business exists to bridge the gap between academia and corporate America. By combining the latest research with the real-world expertise of America’s most forward-thinking companies, the Risk Institute isn’t just reporting risk management’s current trends — it’s creating tomorrow’s best practices.

OSU research institute leads nationwide initiative to curb distracted driving

The Risk Institute at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business is leading a nationwide initiative comprised of dozens of companies, government entities, and researchers seeking to combine leading-edge research with industry expertise in order to predict and curb distracted driving behaviors. The project officially kicked off on Wednesday, February 22 at a roundtable discussion at The Fisher College of Business. 

“Distracted driving is an epidemic across the country. Every day you hear ‘distracted driving is killing people,’ and it is, but nothing is being done to figure out how to stop it,” says Phil Renaud, Executive Director of the Risk Institute. “That’s why we started this initiative — to create actionable change.” 

The number of fatal traffic accidents rose 7.2 percent nationally in 2015 according to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration. It is the greatest year-over-year increase since 1966. Distracted driving was a factor in about 10 percent of auto deaths; the exact percentage is difficult to determine due to privacy rules and other factors.

“Nationwide Insurance has a long history of promoting safety for our members,” says Larry Thursby, Vice President of Personal Auto Product and Pricing at Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.  “We recognize that distracted driving is an issue and we’re looking forward to working with a team of professionals from across the country to find solutions that protect families in every community.”

The consortium identified a three-tiered approach: research, legislation, and technology.

Michael LaRocco, president and CEO of State Auto Insurance Cos., says that collaboration is the reason partnerships between industry, research, and government are crucial to a project like this saying, “This isn’t a problem that will be solved by legislation, research or technology alone. That’s why we’re working directly with researchers to apply their research to everything from car design and manufacturing to insurance, and using new technology to our advantage.”

Practical research application is a crucial component of this initiative, particularly behavioral research. 

“Understanding what makes people do what they do is the first step to changing that behavior,” says Ellen Peters, Professor of Psychology at The Ohio State University. “At a dangerous curve in the UK, for example, they played with drivers’ peripheral vision.  As drivers approach the curve, they see trees planted next to the road at decreasing distances apart. This funnel of trees creates a visual illusion that tricks drivers into feeling as if they’re speeding. As a result, people slow down.”

Renaud highlighted the Risk Institute’s involvement in bringing this project and all the involved partners together saying, “We are uniquely positioned to facilitate valuable conversation between academics and practitioners. The Risk Institute is rooted in research, dedicated to education, and committed to collaboration. This initiative is the perfect amalgamation of those values, and we are so excited to get started.”

Industry partners involved with the project are Honda Inc., Aon Benfield, Nationwide, NiSource, Ford, Motorists Insurance, DHL, State Auto, Freer Logic, True North and others. Representing the legal and governmental branches are the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and the Ohio Department of Insurance. Ohio-based Root Insurance, Smart Drive, Greenroad, and eDriving Fleet make up the technology voices in the conversation. A dozen researchers and thought leaders from OSU representing behavioral science, engineering, automotive research, risk and others make up the research arm of the initiative.

Risk Institute board chair elected chair of Risk Management Association

Helga Houston, chief risk officer at Huntington and chair of the board at The Risk Institute, was elected chair of The Risk Management Association (RMA). Her one-year term began September 1, 2016.

Helga Houston speaks at Risk Institute Annual Conference 2016

Helga Houston speaks at Risk Institute Annual Conference 2016

Helga Houston is past vice chair of RMA’s Board of Directors.

Houston has over 30 years of diversified banking experience in risk management, business development, and client relationships. Prior to joining Huntington, she held positions with Bank of America, Crocker National Bank, and Home Federal Savings and Loan.

Houston earned her bachelor’s degree from Westmont College and her MBA from the University of Southern California.

About RMA

Founded in 1914, The Risk Management Association is a not-for-profit, member-driven professional association whose sole purpose is to advance the use of sound risk management principles in the financial services industry. RMA promotes an enterprise approach to risk management that focuses on credit risk, market risk and operational risk. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, RMA has 2,500 institutional members that include banks of all sizes as well as nonbank financial institutions. They are represented in the Association by 18,000 individuals located throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia/Pacific.

About The Risk Institute

The Risk Institute at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business exists to bridge the gap between academia and practice. The Institute is a collection of forward-thinking companies and academics that understand effective risk management strategies not only protect firms, but position firms to create growth and value. The Institute operates in a unique intersection between our faculty, students, and professionals from a broad cross-section of industries.  With our leading-edge approach to risk management, The Risk Institute creates a space for risk-centered conversations, ideas, and strategies that are unlikely to happen anywhere else.

This release originally published on Sept. 6, 2016.

3 things you need to know to succeed in risk

Panelists from the Women. Fast forward panel at this year's annual conference

Panelists from the Women. Fast forward panel at this year’s annual conference

Disruption and gender diversity are two of the biggest topics facing business leaders today. Both issues are critical to the future of every industry. And they’re closely connected.

The best way to navigate disruption is to harness the power of diverse thinking by enabling people with different experiences, ideas and knowledge to come together in an inclusive culture. Gender diversity is a critical part of the equation. Not only this, gender diverse leadership is proven to increase the skills businesses need to navigate the disruptive trends transforming their industry.

So what does this mean?

If a person, or company, wants to succeed in mitigating risk, they must embrace gender diversity at every level.

In short, everyone benefits from thinking like a woman.

  • “You need to get comfortable being uncomfortable” — Jessica Jung, Director, Oswald Companies

Achieving success isn’t something that just happens to a person. It requires a lot of hard work, tough choices, and generally being willing to put yourself out there— trying something new.

  • Have an entrepreneurial spirit

No matter if you’re the intern grabbing Starbucks for your department or a C-suite executive, don’t be afraid to think outside the box. When approaching any situation, don’t come to the meeting and just point out the risks — offer real solutions.

  • Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.

Every panelist punched this point home — communicate with everyone, from your spouse to your organization and boss. By being an open communicator, you project to others that you are confident, open to compromise, and available.

Each year, The Risk Institute at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business hosts an annual conference that brings together thought leaders, industry experts, and academics to engage in a dialogue about the latest trends in risk management. This year the conversation focused around governance, culture, and the vital role women play in the field.

One of the Institute’s founding member’s, EY, cosponsored a panel spring-boarding their Women. Fast forward initiative, which aims to accelerate the achievement of gender parity in business.

The Risk Institute will continue this conversation and others through this year’s Risk Series.

Governance and culture take center stage at The Risk Institute’s Annual Conference

Conversation surrounding governance and culture recently took center stage at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business, as The Risk Institute explored the impacts of the two key aspects of business at its Annual Conference. The two-day conference brought together Risk Institute members, business leaders, experts and faculty thought leaders from Fisher for an in-depth examination of the risk management and strategic implications of governance and culture.

Phil Renaud and Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams discuss maintaining culture through crisis.

Phil Renaud and Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams discuss maintaining culture through crisis.

Considering the various sides of governance and culture is critical to understanding how to leverage risk management to create value for an organization. The conference featured four keynote speakers, Gordon Bethune, former CEO of Continental Airlines; Cameron Mitchell, founder and CEO of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants; Randall Kroszner, former Governor of the Federal Reserve System; and David Gebler, author of best-selling book The 3 Power Values.

Bethune opened the conference and focused on his experience turning around Continental Airlines over a decade, which is detailed in his book, From Worst to First. He emphasized the importance of building accountability between employees and the organization saying, “What gets measured and rewarded, gets done.”

Mitchell is a self-described serial entrepreneur who understands that taking risks is necessary to be successful in business saying, “I may shoot myself in the foot and walk with a limp, but I’ll never shoot myself in the head and make a fatal mistake.”

Academic Director Isil Erel speaking at Annual Conference 2016.

Academic Director Isil Erel speaking at Annual Conference 2016.

During his time with the Federal Reserve System and as a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, Kroszner never imagined he would be helping guide America’s economy through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. He discussed the potential ramifications of the Fed keeping interests rates at historic lows since 2008 saying, “When your short-run policy becomes a long-run policy, you will always run into unintended consequences.”

Named one of America’s top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior, Gebler is an innovator of new approaches that integrate culture, ethics, values and performance. His talk detailed how to know if your organization’s culture is a risk factor utilizing the three power values— integrity, transparency and commitment.

In addition to the keynotes, the third-annual conference brought together business leaders and experts for a series of RISKx presentations and panel discussions on women in risk, governance and culture related to business. The culture discussion explored  employees’ attitudes toward risk, mergers and acquisitions, maintaining culture through crisis, and emerging risks in the energy industry.

The Risk Institute’s Executive Education Series will resume November 15 with a discussion on Political Risk.