Dealing with the rise of Web 2.0

The rise of Web 2.0 may seem in some ways to be a subject rather remote to the normal concerns of an op risk or compliance executive.

But, I've discovered over the past few months, Web 2.0 is everywhere. And its impact can be felt quite strongly in unexpected ways.

So, to this end, I'd like to introduce the first online OpRisk & Compliance news service. We are starting relatively modestly, with a new window on the top of the existing home page. Here we will be posting important articles on a daily basis for our readers and a wider audience. For now, all of these articles will be free-to-view.

However, within a few months, we will be launching a whole new OpRisk & Compliance website, which will be a true information portal for our subscribers and the wider op risk and compliance communities. And this portal will include a more robust online news service, with both free news stories and subscription-only articles. Other new features will also be included in the site. We hope the op risk and compliance communities will find these improvements useful and enjoyable.

But the other area where Web 2.0 could potentially have an impact is in the collection and processing of risk-management data. This month the magazine conducted such a survey. We looked at the data risk executives currently receive, and how they process and report this data.

I think one of the most important findings of the report is just how much data comes through informal channels, including email, phone calls and other 'non-structured' mediums. After all, op risk and compliance executives have spent the better part of the last five years focusing on data collection and analysis.

Perhaps, I thought as I read the results, the industry needs really to turn its attitude towards data collection on its head? Perhaps we need to think about how Web 2.0 can be applied to the tricky problem of op risk data collection, and risk management? Perhaps trying to bash op risk information into pre-set fields in databases is the wrong answer?

I'm not pretending I've got the answers here. But gosh, aren't the questions interesting? Have a good month!