Link To Strategic Objectives

Companies too often wait until something bad is happening before they'll start conducting risk management activities, according to PwC's Schwartz. But Schwartz said businesses that consider risk on the front end rather than reacting on the back end enjoy better success with prevention and achieve more alignment with the company's broader strategic and innovation plans.

More and more companies have needed to step back and recalibrate their risk management programs as they go through their digital transformation journeys and implement new technologies like artificial intelligence, robotic process automation and predictive analytics, Schwartz said.

Taking on all these emerging technologies, though, adds financial, operational and strategic risks for the company, Schwartz said. Companies need to explicitly consider whether they wish to increase their risk appetite and risk tolerance to support this new technology, according to Schwartz.