We live in a VUCA world. This volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous landscape presents us with a number of challenges, including geopolitical tension, economic uncertainty, cyber threats, the rise of misinformation, and climate-related disruptions.
With everything interconnected, what happens in one part of the world or one industry can easily impact markets, supply chains, and businesses across the world – all in a matter of hours, minutes, or even seconds.
For business leaders, managing the unpredictable is a question of when, not if, and the answer lies in a proactive risk intelligence strategy. Decisions must be made quickly, but many organizations still rely on traditional, reactive security and risk management processes, instead of implementing an intelligence-led approach that helps them anticipate and prepare for the unexpected.
Ultimately, resilience in a VUCA world depends on a business’ ability to anticipate and act, to mitigate threats before they become risks, and result in costly disruption.
Rethink your approach to security alerts
A proactive risk intelligence strategy focuses on both today and tomorrow. It goes beyond real-time alerts and instead asks, “What is going on in the world, what might happen next, and what does this mean for us?”
Building this mindset into your organization starts by sitting down with your stakeholders and asking these essential questions:
- What do we need to know?
- Why do we need this intelligence?
- Who needs this intelligence and how will they use it?
By asking these key questions, the focus shifts from reactive alerts and crisis/incident management to becoming better informed, better prepared, and better equipped to provide assurance across the organization. In simple terms, it enables you to turn awareness into assurance: No one is caught off-guard when threats emerge, and your decision-makers stay in control.
Spot threats you may otherwise miss
One common mistake many organizations make is monitoring by ‘alert-style’ feeds for incidents based on geography/location only.
The ripple effect of today’s interconnectedness can turn a localized event into a global disruption both physically and digitally, in real-time with a prolonged tail end. When monitoring is limited to geography alone, organizations might miss those acute shocks or chronic stresses.
Risk intelligence expands this view. It focuses not only on where events and emerging threats are happening, but on what’s happening in relation to your non-tangible assets – such as your brand and supply chain – and to external factors across your industry, markets, and the broader political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental (PESTLE) landscape. It’s about establishing baselines, identifying behaviors, patterns, and trends, and forecasting possible futures based on these.
It shifts the focus and asks, “What if this happened to us?” and “What can we do about it?” so businesses can stay informed and in control of their decision-making.
Pairing people and tech for better intelligence
Building a proactive risk intelligence strategy requires the right balance of technology and human touch, especially when it comes to data collection and processing.
Machines are powerful, but they can only detect what they’ve been programmed to find. And human analysts provide highly targeted intelligence collection capabilities, but these come at a cost. The key to unlocking the opportunities of both, and operating this 24/7/365, is through active and passive methods of gathering intelligence.
- Active collection: Analysts manually investigate areas of concern, determining nuance and context, and analyzing that data. This goes beyond a person scanning social media or the latest news headlines. It requires the right person with the right professional background, training, and tools to turn raw information into meaningful intelligence.
- Passive collection: Automated systems scan vast sources of intelligence indicators, including trends and anomalies. But not all sources are created equal. At Securitas, we leverage an all-source intelligence strategy, which includes utilizing all available and appropriate sources of intelligence.
Together, these two methods form a powerful, complementary part of your proactive risk intelligence strategy.
Putting intelligence into the right hands
Once you've defined what intelligence is needed and why, the next step is to consider who needs what intelligence and how they will use it. A frontline officer might need timely updates on local threats that affect physical safety. An executive protection team may only need intelligence related to specific individuals or locations. Senior leaders, meanwhile, are likely focused on broader trends, geopolitical shifts, or reputational risks.
If you’ve answered the initial three questions, you’ve already established who needs what intelligence and built processes in place to disseminate the intelligence to the right people as it becomes available. This goes beyond alerts to integrating intelligence into standard operating procedures, workflows, and business-as-usual meetings.
Why many risk intelligence frameworks fall short
The biggest challenge most organizations face in this process is information overload. You have data but are missing meaningful insights and struggle to distinguish real threats from the noise. Plus, how do you trust the data, given the rise of misinformation and disinformation?
A proactive risk intelligence strategy combines technology with expert analysis to filter out noise and validate credible threats. Again, it’s about assurance – the confidence that someone is assessing the landscape and delivering what’s relevant, what it means for your organization, and how you can respond.
A case study in $30 million saved
Even in a VUCA world, risk can become a source of advantage. One critical national infrastructure organization proved this by transforming its traditional, reactive security program and building a proactive intelligence-led security and risk strategy.
Faced with both criminal and sabotage threats, the team began asking, “If this scenario were to happen, what would we do?” From there, they built a strategy focused on anticipation rather than reaction.
An internal review later revealed the impact: Nearly $30 million in potential disruptions were mitigated over a three-year period. It’s a clear example of how organizations can turn proactive risk intelligence and awareness into a competitive advantage.
What you can do today
So, where can you begin?
- Ask the right questions. Go beyond the security team; involve stakeholders from across the organization, including human resources, legal, marketing, and other departments, to define what intelligence is needed and why.
- Use all available sources. Combine internal insights with external data. Use all available and appropriate data sources.
- Integrate intelligence throughout your organization. Ensure intelligence reaches the right people, in the right format, for the right purpose, whether it’s a frontline officer or an executive in the boardroom.
A proactive risk intelligence strategy keeps you informed, agile, and one step ahead – and yes, it can be the edge that sets you apart in a VUCA world.
Sign up for our Risk Intelligence Awareness trial and discover how to turn your reactive security into proactive intelligence.
