Since the advent of risk management as a specialized function in many organizations, software plays a greater role in the operational health and growth of a company. Software have been developed to minimize business risk, as well as identify opportunities where risk taking can accelerate growth. They are designed to provide IT organizations with the training, technology and process improvements they need to manage software risk, and view risk as an enabler, not an obstacle to success.

There are some risks that companies can minimize and others they can embrace. For example, there are risks associated with people and their behavior or risks in technology and its impact on the organization. There are risks that may harm a business such as compliance failures, system downtime and software glitches. These are risks that can grow and differentiate a business.

Many companies are turning to IT and software to understand, evaluate and manage these various types of risks. According to a recent survey from Forrester Research, 62 percent of CIOs indicated they already had a company-wide initiative focused on enterprise risk and compliance management.

Most risk management software packages are equipped with tools to help manage product design and manufacturing operations. The tools derive cost, schedule, labor and materials estimates by assessing the interaction and impact of product, organizational and even operational variables. They provide standard database functions to add and delete risks, as well as specialized functions for prioritizing and retiring project risks. Each risk can have a user-defined Risk Management plan and a log of historical events.

Software vendors are discovering ways to deliver risk management systems at affordable costs in a bid to attract new customers. Internet-based application service providers (ASPs) allow software firms to provide off-the-shelf and far cheaper versions of their risk management programs on universal websites.

Aided by technology and a wealth of information about risk mitigation, managers of the new millennium are more confident of absorbing risks. Risk management software has contributed immensely to this favorable trend.