What is the role of a Digital Risk Officer (DRO) and why is it important for your business?

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Understanding risk, governance, and compliance

3 simple words that carry immense weight and meaning for any business, anywhere in the world.

Today, many businesses recognize the challenge of implementing risk management, governance policies, and compliance procedures, and of course, digital risk management.

As our worlds of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), the IoT (Internet of Things), and an always-on, always-connected society permeate every corner of the globe, the risk for businesses and multinationals in particular, has grown exponentially.

Earlier Gartner research predicted that one-third of large enterprises engaging in digital business would introduce a Digital Risk Officer or equivalent role.

While more recent role-specific forecasts are scarce, PwC’s Global Compliance Study 2025 shows that 71% of organizations expect digital transformation initiatives requiring compliance support, with technology, cyber security, and data protection now the top compliance priorities for over half of executives. Together, this points to a clear shift toward formalised digital risk leadership at senior levels.

What does that mean exactly?

With the extensive technologies now available to businesses and consumers alike, organizations have strived to share information, branding, and content through multiple social channels and many other digital platforms. This creates an enormous bank of digital content and, in all likelihood, a scattered bank of data.

In the United States, how do senior executives—responsible for meeting multiple legislative and regulatory requirements—monitor and manage their digital assets?

“Digital Risk Officers (DROs) will require a mix of business acumen and understanding with sufficient technical knowledge to assess and make recommendations for appropriately addressing digital business risk.”

Paul Proctor, Vice President and Analyst at Gartner

Creating a role or responsibility for digital assets within an organization is a smart approach, but how does one individual—or even a team—monitor these assets across a multinational organization?

Businesses need to consider a variety of regulations across different regions. For instance, upcoming amendments to the Data Protection Act, the assessment of technological risks of systems used to manage digital engagement, or even the representation of a brand. All of these, and more, require regular assessment and monitoring so that, if or when a DRO or risk management team is questioned about the organization’s digital assets, they can easily report back to the regulatory body or auditors, demonstrating compliance.

The other major benefit a DRO role brings to an organization is the ability to drive value from digital asset spending. Multinationals, in particular, often have countries or regions producing duplicate or overlapping content. With an accurate understanding of the global digital estate, the DRO can make decisions based not only on the risk profile of assets but also on the value they deliver.

Avoiding unnecessary spending where value may be suboptimal or where assets have become stale due to lack of updates is crucial. Accurately understanding the entire digital estate through effective data capture and governance will provide insights for better and more impactful decisions, create savings, and drive smarter purchasing decisions.

Strengthening organizational knowledge and oversight

The majority of businesses, especially multinationals, are fortunate to have a team of knowledgeable employees or consultants, such as lawyers, security executives, risk officers, and senior executives. When combined, these individuals can and should provide a cohesive view of the organization’s digital assets and legislative or regulatory requirements in each location.

• Think globally, act locally. By auditing digital assets that are produced and stored, the risk management team can start to gain a clear view of any challenges or areas of concern while also identifying future risks within a reliable risk management system.
• Set realistic expectations. Regulatory and legislative bodies expect organizations to recognize the importance of their digital assets. However, since digital risk management is still in its infancy, businesses that take the initiative can position themselves ahead of the curve.
• Be proactive. Preventing issues proactively is far better than waiting for problems to escalate. By having a strong risk management policy and procedures in place, you’ll be able to detect, report, and resolve critical issues. After all, prevention is better than constantly firefighting problems.

Digital risk management requires digital solutions. By creating a clear data collection and reporting process, supported by a suitable toolset like CoreStream GRC, you can profile the risk of assets and use that information to compare value, optimizing the balance between risk and reward.

Ultimately, remember that those producing digital assets never envisioned having to comply with today’s growing regulatory demands. However, if you take steps to educate and motivate your organization, you’ll not only ensure compliance but position yourself as a forward-thinking leader in the digital age.

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Our takeaway: How CoreStream GRC helps Digital Risk Officers organizations manage digital risk

The role of a Digital Risk Officer is only effective if the organization has the right structure behind it. Digital risk cannot be managed properly when ownership, evidence, controls, actions, and reporting are spread across disconnected spreadsheets, inboxes, and systems.

That is where CoreStream GRC can help.

CoreStream GRC gives organizations a flexible, intuitive way to bring digital risk management into the wider governance, risk, and compliance environment. Instead of treating digital risk as a standalone issue, teams can connect it to risk registers, controls, compliance obligations, audit evidence, actions, reporting, and business ownership.

That matters because digital risk is becoming harder to control manually.

Did you know?

For Digital Risk Officers, this creates a clear message: visibility is not enough. Organizations need a repeatable way to assign ownership, monitor controls, capture evidence, escalate issues, and report with confidence.

CoreStream GRC is designed to support that kind of operating model. The platform is built around flexible, no-code configuration, clear accountability, workflow, and audit-ready reporting, helping teams manage governance at scale without unnecessary complexity.

In practice, that means organizations can:

• Connect digital risks to owners, controls, actions, and evidence.
• Track remediation activity and outstanding issues.
• Create consistent reporting for senior leadership, auditors, and regulators.
• Reduce reliance on fragmented spreadsheets and manual follow-up.
• Build a clearer view of how digital risk affects the wider business.

Digital risk is moving too quickly for static reporting and disconnected processes.

With CoreStream GRC, organizations can move from periodic reviews to a more connected, evidence-led approach, giving Digital Risk Officers the visibility and structure they need to manage risk with confidence.

Want to bring digital risk, ownership, evidence, and reporting into 1 place?

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions about the role of Digital Risk officers