Integrated risk management (IRM) is the disciplined, unified approach an organisation can take to govern all the risks it faces, so that executives can make wiser decisions and drive better business performance. If that sounds hard to achieve—in all honesty, that’s because it is. But the siloed, ad hoc approach to integrated risk management that too many organisations still use today doesn’t do them much good either. There are simply too many risks out there, and a fractured approach leaves executives and boards reacting to events, rather than understanding them and then advancing business objectives anyway.

The purpose of this eBook is to explore that conflict. Business leaders need a better understanding of what IRM can provide, what the business case for it is, and the steps an organization would need to take to reap all the gains that IRM promises. We’ve outlined how to do this in the following four sections.