Essential Guide to Technology Risk Management: Key Trends and Priorities for 2025

Key Takeaways

• Technology risk now includes AI failures, cloud dependencies, and hidden vendor threats.
  
• Six major shifts are reshaping how organizations identify and manage risk in 2025.
  
• Traditional checklists are giving way to real-time, adaptive risk models.
  
• Prioritization depends on impact, likelihood, system dependencies, and blind spots.
  
• A five-step guide helps teams take focused, strategic action right away.
  

Technology touches just about everything we do at work. As tech tools get smarter and more connected, understanding digital and technology risk has become part of doing business responsibly. 

This guide offers a clear overview of the current state of affairs as of 2025. We’ll walk through what technology risk means today, where the real challenges are showing up, and how organizations are adjusting their approach.

Let’s start with the basics.

What We Mean When We Talk About Technology Risk

Technology risk management used to mean IT controls and cybersecurity. Now it’s a much broader responsibility. It includes risks like:

• AI failures and misuse
• Cloud vendor overdependence
• Legacy infrastructure that slows down change
• Third-party risks you can’t fully see
• Leadership knowledge gaps

6 Shifts Reshaping Technology Risk Management

This guide wouldn’t be complete without covering the six areas that are driving the biggest changes in how organizations manage technology risk in 2025.

1. The Frontline Risks That Keep Surfacing

Some risks never really go away. Cybersecurity, outages, and system operational reliability continue to dominate risk discussions because they have the most significant impact when they fail. These are the problems that make headlines and the ones that leaders care about most.

According to the Marsh 2024 Global Technology Industry Risk Study, 74% of respondents identified data security and privacy as their top concern, followed by business interruption (57%) and AI design or usage failure (52%). (Marsh)

These concerns reflect growing complexity. Even when companies feel prepared, the speed of incidents and their ripple effects often catch teams off guard. 

2. The Overlooked Risks That Undermine the Best Plans

Not every risk announces itself. Some of the most disruptive factors in tech risk come from within. Poor decisions, misaligned investments, or outdated systems that no longer serve the business creep up slowly but have real consequences.

ISACA’s 2024 coverage of emerging tech risks outlined eight common issues that don’t always get enough attention (ISACA). 

Among them:

• Misalignment between technology tools and actual business workflows leads to low adoption and poor ROI.
• Executive blind spots, where leadership lacks visibility into the real capabilities and risks of the tech in play.
• Skills shortages that slow down implementation or increase dependence on third parties.
• Overreliance on a single cloud provider introduces concentration risk.
• Technical debt– the invisible cost of aging infrastructure that makes every new rollout harder.
• Governance models that can’t keep up with innovation cycles delay necessary decisions.

When these risks aren’t addressed early, they tend to resurface down the line.

3. Vendors Are Now Inside the Risk Perimeter

It’s easy to think of vendors as a separate entity from your business, but in practice, they’re part of your operational core. Most modern organizations rely on dozens, if not hundreds, of external service providers, from cloud hosting to payroll platforms to customer engagement tools.

The 2024 CrowdStrike outage demonstrated how quickly a vendor issue can escalate into a systemic one. A single faulty update spread rapidly across endpoints, bringing critical systems to a halt.

That’s why third-party risk management technology today means more than an onboarding checklist. Companies are investing in:

• Technology risk management software that continuously assesses vendor security posture.
• Automated feeds that alert teams to live vulnerabilities.
• Governance models that tie vendor risk levels to contractual terms and service dependencies.

4. AI Risks Are Moving from Technical to Structural

Artificial intelligence has moved beyond experiments. It’s running key parts of business operations. Whether in customer support, fraud detection, or content generation, AI systems are shaping real decisions and experiences.

That shift brings a new kind of risk. IMarsh reports that 81% of tech firms are using AI in some form, and over half are concerned about AI-related failures (Marsh). Some of the key concerns include:

• Bias in training data that creates unfair or misleading outcomes.
• Unclear accountability, where no one owns the risk if something goes wrong.
• Automation without oversight allows systems to make sensitive decisions without human review.

If your organization relies on AI, it’s not enough to test the model. You need governance around how it’s used, who monitors it, and how to respond when something goes off course.

5. Insurance Isn’t Just a Backstop Anymore

Insurance has always been part of risk strategy, but now, it’s becoming a source of insight, not just indemnity. As threats become more complex, companies are leaning on insurers for more proactive support.

Beazley’s 2024 report found that 24% of companies are engaging insurers not just for coverage, but also for services like threat intelligence, crisis simulation, and advisory support (Beazley).

6. From Compliance Checklists to Dynamic Risk Models

Risk programs were once built around frameworks and audits. These are still important, but they don’t accurately reflect the pace at which tech environments evolve.

That’s why more organizations are shifting toward real-time, adaptive systems that support decision-making across teams. According to ISACA, this means moving beyond checklists and static controls in favor of:

• Agile governance methods that evolve with business needs
• Collaboration between legal, IT, operations, and compliance
• Dashboards and tooling that show where things stand now (not last quarter)
• Enterprise risk management technology

This shift enables teams to respond to risks as they emerge, rather than discovering them during annual reviews.

A Practical Guide for Getting Started with Technology Risk Management

Technology risk management is about developing a clear and adaptive approach to identifying and responding to tech-related risk. 

Here’s a guide to get you started:

Step 1: Take Inventory of What You Rely On Most

Begin with your business-critical tech stack based on what people actually use every day. 

Include:

• Internal systems (ERP, CRM, HRIS)
  
• Customer-facing applications
  
• Cloud service providers
  
• Third-party APIs and integrations
  
• Shadow IT risk management (yes, even those “unofficial” tools)
  

Ask: What would cause the most disruption if it went offline for 48 hours? That question will usually reveal your core dependencies.

Step 2: Surface Incidents and Near Misses

Every organization has war stories to tell. Platform downtime, failed rollouts, and missed alerts can be used to learn valuable lessons.

Create a short list of tech-related incidents from the last 12–18 months. For each one, note:

• What happened (or nearly happened)
  
• What the business impact was (lost revenue, delays, reputation hit)
  
• What gaps were exposed (e.g., weak monitoring, unclear ownership, slow response)
  

Step 3: Assign Ownership and Accountability

Risks fall through the cracks when no one owns them. Once you’ve mapped out the systems and services your business depends on, ask:

• Who’s responsible for monitoring this asset or process?
  
• Who’s empowered to take action if something goes wrong?
  
• Who gets notified when risk indicators change?

Step 4: Pick One Domain to Improve This Quarter

Trying to fix everything at once leads to inertia. Instead, select one of the following domains and focus on meaningful progress:

• Vendor Risk – Can you improve visibility into third-party performance or add auto-alerting for live vulnerabilities?
  
• AI Governance – Is there a clear policy for where AI is used and who’s responsible for its outputs?
  
• Cloud Dependency – Do you have exit plans or risk distribution strategies for your top cloud providers?
  
• Incident Readiness – Can you run a tabletop exercise or improve alerting for key systems?
  

Set one goal. Scope it tightly. Document your approach and share it cross-functionally.

Bonus Step 5: Align Risk Insights to Business Strategy

Don’t let this work live in a silo. The most effective technology risk programs are plugged into strategic planning, budget cycles, and operational goals.

So once you’ve gathered your findings, use them to:

• Inform quarterly planning or investment decisions
  
• Justify upgrades, vendor changes, or training needs
  
• Propose risk scenarios tied to real business units (not abstract scores)
  

Risk doesn’t live in a vacuum. When you tie it to outcomes, people pay attention.

The Role of Information Technology in Risk Management

Information technology plays a dual role in modern risk management. It’s both a source of risk and a critical tool for managing it.

On the risk side, IT introduces new attack surfaces and dependencies. Every system, integration, and data stream has the potential to fail, be exploited, or simply fall out of sync with the business.

However, information technology risk management is also what enables modern organizations to detect, measure, and respond to those risks effectively. This is why CIOs, CISOs, and compliance officers are increasingly expected to work together. 

How to Prioritize Technology Risks in 2025

How should organizations actually prioritize these risks? With so many moving parts, from AI to cloud dependencies, it’s not always clear what deserves your attention first.

Here’s a simple way to approach it:

1. Impact vs. Likelihood

Start with the basic risk matrix. Which risks could seriously disrupt operations or trust, and how likely are they to occur?

2. Dependency Mapping

Consider what your business can’t run without. Systems, vendors, and tools tied to revenue or reputation need higher priority.

3. Time Sensitivity

Some risks unfold slowly (like tech debt). Others, such as vendor breaches, can occur quickly. Balance urgency with importance.

4. Visibility Gaps

If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Prioritize areas where your organization has the least real-time insight.

Final Word

The more technology changes, the more important it becomes to stay oriented. Not by reacting to headlines, but by building shared understanding.

So here’s a question to take with you as you finish reading this blog:

What’s one part of your tech risk strategy that could use a closer look?

You probably already know the answer. And that’s the best place to begin.

FAQs

What frameworks or standards should we follow for technology risk management?

Many professionals mention COBIT, ISO 27001, COSO, and NIST as go‑to options. These frameworks help structure risk identification, control monitoring, and governance, essential for both IT and enterprise risk management. 

What tools or software are useful for managing tech risks and third‑party vendors?

Forums often recommend systems that offer continuous vendor posture assessment, automated vulnerability feeds, and GRC platforms with modules for vendor risk management, controls testing, audit trails, and policy lifecycle management. 

How should responsibilities be structured across teams?

To avoid gaps, risk ownership should be clearly assigned: someone must own each key asset, each vendor relationship, and each risk domain. GRC forums recommend mapping risk areas directly to roles: IT, legal, compliance, business ops, etc.—and aligning responsibilities to business impact .

What are some good starter steps if you’re new to tech risk management?

Across planning forums, suggested first steps include:

• Inventory critical systems and vendors
  
• Catalog incidents and near‑misses from the past 12–18 months
  
• Map risk ownership
  
• Select one domain to improve this quarter (e.g. vendor risk, incident alerting, AI governance)