FEW boards and their organisations anticipated the profound impact that the pandemic has had on their revenue models, supply chains and ways of working. Extreme events, sometimes with catastrophic consequences, are expected to occur more frequently in the future. Yet, despite the use of extensive risk identification, evaluation and management methodologies, boards continue to be surprised by downside risks and "black swan" events.

Boards play a critical role in shaping their organisations' risk appetite and ensuring that an adequate and effective risk management framework is in place. This oversight role has also never been more challenging in today's world, as the number and scale of risks faced by organisations have proliferated.

This puts the focus on the enterprise risk management function.