The disruptive shift unfolding impacting risk advisory services

I was fortunate to interview this week sharing a perspective on the paradigm shift taking place with governance, risk and compliance (GRC) software. And then today, there’s an article in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) highlighting another law firm (this time Ashurst), expanding from their traditional services into the area of board and risk advisory services. This made me reflect on the interplay between these shifts and what will make the risk advisory winners stand out.

First, a disruptive shift in the GRC market I believe is well underway and supported by these drivers:

• More businesses than ever need to better manage risk and compliance for their business because obligations are only increasing and risks and harder to manage – so demand is exploding;
• Advisors recognise the need to provide advice using technology that helps their clients get to action and outcomes faster - no more letters of advice and spreadsheets!;
• Advancements in technology like artificial intelligence and data science are accelerating the benefits that contemporary GRC platforms can provide compared with manual processes; and
• Incumbent GRC technology players like RSA Archer, IBM Open Pages, Metric Stream and ServiceNow are proving too costly, too complicated, take too long, and not designed to be used by advisors as well. 

These drivers create an opportunity for software that’s easy to use, fast to implement, affordable and complements the client/advisor relationship. This shift is the same as what we saw with accounting software a decade ago where the market exploded, and incumbents like SAP, JD Edwards, Oracle Financials were pushed aside in favour of platforms like Xero, which is cloud-based, easy to use and designed to be used by both business and accountants (check out AFR article – the “Xero for Risk & Compliance”).

The plot thickens now though, as more advisors are vying for a seat at the board table and providing risk advisory services that will undoubtedly force current and prospective clients to ask, “what differentiates these service offerings?”. The answer no doubt will relate to their understanding of the client’s industry or related risk domain, their intellectual property and the breadth and depth of their other complimentary services.

Still, ultimately, the fundamental question from current and prospective clients will be, “how quickly can you deliver real value and generate outcomes for us, your clients?” (the time-to-value metric...). Put another way, there will be a question about how advisors more effectively help businesses shift from ‘advice’ to ‘action’. 

The answer, in my view, relates to the effective adoption of technology, allowing advisors to ‘spin up’ GRC software capability in seconds for their clients with their IP embedded and with all the content and functionality they need to engage with clients and help them realise superior value ongoing. Until recently, there just wasn’t software that supported the value chain in this way.

With this in mind, outside of the obvious ‘ticket to the game’ – relationships, industry awareness and necessary expertise, there are three factors that will help risk and compliance advisors succeed in today’s changing market;

1. Embrace disruptive software trends;
2. Streamline the sharing of IP with your clients to create stickiness; and
3.  Ensure the leverage of scarce consulting resources using technology.

I am looking forward to seeing this shift unfold. Comments and feedback welcome of course.

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Anthony Stevens is the CEO & Co-founder of 6clicks. Our mission is to build truly great software to help our community of partners and customers with risk and compliance. That means the perfect interplay of content and function. It's what makes 6clicks.

Prior to 6clicks, Anthony held a number of executive leadership roles for publicly listed and private businesses, including as a Partner and Chief Digital Officer at KPMG. Anthony is also the author of Chasing Digital: A Playbook for the New Economy and co-founder of several start-ups.

Anthony has a Bachelor of Commerce, a Bachelor of Information Systems, and a Masters of Commercial Law from the University of Melbourne. He is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and was named Young Executive of the Year in 2011 by AFR BOSS.