Quickly made business decisions and innovations in technology—such as big data and social media—can throw a curve to a company’s strategic risk management, according to a survey by Deloitte. As a result, risk managers need to be prepared to act quickly to avoid disruptions that can follow.

The study, Exploring Strategic Risk: 300 Executives around the World Say Their View of Strategic Risk is Changing, found that 81% of companies surveyed manage strategic risk explicitly, focusing on major risks that could impact the long-term performance of their organization.

Strategic risk management is also more of a board level priority, with 67% saying the CEO and board have oversight in managing strategic risk. They also say reputation risk is now their biggest risk concern.

Much of this concern is due to the instantaneous aspects of social media globally, which can impact a company’s perception in the marketplace.

While reputation was already the top risk identified by financial services three years ago, and still is today, the energy sector didn’t see reputation as a top-five risk. Today, however, they see it as their number-one risk.

Respondents said they expect human capital and innovation to be the top strategic assets for companies to invest in three years from now, according to the study.

Illustrations: Deloitte