Diligent Q&A: Adam Bailey on third-party risk, AI in GRC and excitement for Elevate 2024
We sat down with Adam Bailey, SVP and Global Head of Product at Diligent, to discuss how businesses can tackle the growing pressure of third-party risk, how he envisions AI impacting GRC and what he’ll be speaking about at Elevate 2024.
With Elevate just around the corner, what are you most excited for this year?
Attendees are truly in for a treat, because this year’s agenda is packed with some of the most engaging sessions and speakers we’ve had yet! We’re thrilled to have Dr. Anastassia Lauterbach-Lang, CEO of AI Edutainment and Professor of AI and Cybersecurity, and Pav Gill, Founder & CEO of Confide Platform, two of the whistleblowers of the Wirecard scandal.That session will be moderated by Felix Salmon, Chief Financial Correspondent at Axios, and is a conversation not to be missed.
Still, what I’m most excited about is meeting face to face with customers, and talking about innovations within the Diligent One Platform that will enhance their everyday governance, risk and compliance (GRC) practices. In addition to sessions outlining the latest trends and insights in GRC, we have a ton of training opportunities planned to familiarize customers with our latest enhancements to provide them with more value and make their jobs more efficient.
Your own session will focus on the Diligent One Platform, and how it can be leveraged to make your job easier and streamline GRC processes. Can you give us a preview of what to expect?
The Diligent One Platform gives our customers something not available anywhere else: The ability to connect data across GRC processes, and surface insights to leadership and the board through a single, AI-powered platform. I’m excited to demonstrate the power of the platform and share stories about how it has been impacting our customers.
I’ll also be sharing, for the first time, some of the forthcoming innovations we have planned. Without giving away too much, we have some exciting external data partnerships that will give customers access to financial and market data within the platform, to easily manage this data and report insights up to leadership and the board. We’re also continuing to integrate AI into the platform, introducing new capabilities to enhance tasks like strategic performance management and policy management.
What is one of the most pressing risks for organizations right now, and how is Diligent helping to address it?
A key concern for businesses today is the risk of overlooking critical issues. Leaders are juggling multiple challenges, making software like Diligent Enterprise Risk Management essential for identifying and mitigating risks across the organization and reporting to leadership and the board.
But if I were to narrow in, one pressing concern is third-party risk management. While third-party relationships offer growth opportunities, they also expose businesses to risks such as regulatory fines, reputational damage, and financial loss.
Centralizing and automating third-party risk management with a solution like Third Party Risk Management from Diligent provides a comprehensive view of risks, reducing the chance of oversight. The Multiple Risk Models feature allows individualized assessments of risks like bribery, ESG, or IT security.
Additionally, the Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) feature offers real-time data on UBOs of prospective partners, ensuring compliance with the OFAC 50% Rule. This feature enables cross-verification of partners' disclosures against reliable databases, adding an extra layer of security.
How do you envision the role of artificial intelligence (AI) evolving in GRC?
Organizations today face a dynamic, evolving risk landscape, and making informed decisions is more crucial than ever. AI plays a critical role in helping GRC teams expand resources, enhance communication, and make faster decisions to better manage risk.
For example, as mandates like cybersecurity and climate risk evolve, new frameworks like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive add to compliance challenges. AI-powered GRC tools can quickly identify and prioritize changes, preventing duplication and errors, keeping policies ahead of regulatory shifts.
AI can also have an enormous impact in the boardroom by processing data at superhuman speeds, streamlining tasks like building board books, customizing summaries, and preparing presentations. This frees up corporate directors and leaders to focus on making smart decisions, rather than sifting through mountains of data.
These functionalities and more are possible with Diligent AI, and we’re constantly looking at new ways to leverage artificial intelligence to add value to our customers.
Don’t miss the chance to be part of a transformative experience in governance, risk, and compliance — register for Elevate 2024 here.
