Dive Brief:
- Tech innovations bring newfound risks, but there are steps employers can take to find an appropriate risk-reward balance, PwC says in a new report, Managing risks and growth in the age of innovation.
- Following a survey of senior risk executives, PwC concluded that 60% manage innovation risk very effectively or somewhat effectively. Those doing so influence decision-making about innovation, are more likely to express confidence in their risk management program’s ability to effectively manage risk from new technologies (including artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things) and are more likely to expect revenue growth.
- The report said organizations must prepare for known and unexpected risks, and that risk managers must be involved in the entire innovation process.
Dive Insight:
HR is no stranger to this concept; as the PwC report notes, even the implementation of new tools brings risk. Perhaps most notably, experts have been warning HR professionals about the problems that the adoption of big data and AI may bring.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in particular, has examined concerns that those advances may not only reflect current biases but also potentially worsen discrimination. In response, attorneys have warned HR professionals that employers are ultimately responsible for ensuring compliance with nondiscrimination laws; they say HR must ask the right questions when adopting that tech, or others.
HR also should be aware of the impact new tech has on employees. When employers invest in new tech, they also need to invest in more than the initial training and plan for a long-term learning curve, experts say. HR also can serve as a gatekeeper for new tools, ensuring that employees don't suffer from tech overload, which one study says can be a major drain on productivity.
