The Risk Wheelhouse

Wheelhouse Advisors LLC

The Risk Wheelhouse is designed to explore how RiskTech is transforming the way companies approach risk management today and into the future. The podcast aims to provide listeners with valuable insights into integrated risk management (IRM) practices and emerging technologies. Each episode will feature a "Deep Dive" into specific topics or research reports developed by Wheelhouse Advisors, helping listeners navigate the complexities of the modern risk landscape.

  1. S6E4: Avoiding The RiskTech Buyer Trap

    6D AGO

    S6E4: Avoiding The RiskTech Buyer Trap

    Shiny demos are everywhere, but what if that “next-gen SaaS” risk platform is still a construction zone under the hood? We unpack the Risk Tech Buyer Trap and show how modern UIs and AI buzz can disguise where vendors really are on the path to true integration maturity. Our conversation breaks down a clear four-stage transformation sequence—SaaS foundation, experience reset, object model stabilization, and finally productized integration—so you can pinpoint a platform’s real readiness and avoid inheriting the vendor’s rebuild risk. AI raises the stakes. As non-human identities proliferate and SaaS-to-SaaS connections multiply, trust becomes the new currency. We explore how data boundaries, continuous assurance, and identity governance reshape due diligence, and why vague claims about “secure cloud” and “powerful AI” no longer cut it. Using Archer’s Evolve journey as a transparent case study, we illustrate the signals of staged modernization and the common gap between marketing momentum and operational maturity. You’ll leave with a practical toolkit: five red flags that reveal immature integration, and five killer questions that turn any demo into a real diligence session. This is about buying outcomes, not slideware—negotiating around proven patterns, aligning contracts to maturity milestones, and protecting your timeline and budget from hidden complexity. If you’re evaluating IRM, GRC, or risk analytics platforms, this guide helps you separate finished systems from roadmaps in disguise. Enjoy the episode? Follow, share with your team, and leave a quick review to help more risk leaders find these insights. Visit www.therisktechjournal.com and www.rtj-bridge.com to learn more about the topics discussed in today's episode. Subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music. Contact us directly at info@wheelhouseadvisors.com or visit us at LinkedIn or X.com. Our YouTube channel also delivers fast, executive-ready insights on Integrated Risk Management. Explore short explainers, IRM Navigator research highlights, RiskTech Journal analysis, and conversations from The Risk Wheelhouse Podcast. We cover the issues that matter most to modern risk leaders. Every video is designed to sharpen decision making and strengthen resilience in a digital-first world. Subscribe at youtube.com/@WheelhouseAdv.

    27 min
  2. S6E3: The IRM Navigator™ - Turning Risk Into A Strategic Operating Model

    JAN 22

    S6E3: The IRM Navigator™ - Turning Risk Into A Strategic Operating Model

    Risk work that lives in reports but not in decisions is a hidden tax on performance. We tackle that problem head-on by unpacking the IRM Navigator, an operating model that connects standards and roles to the real systems and moments where choices are made. Instead of treating risk as a sidecar, we show how to embed it into approvals, planning, and daily operations so decision velocity and decision quality rise together. We start by locating the Navigator within a clear four-layer stack: principles and standards set intent, the three lines model defines accountability, and execution lives in processes and platforms. The missing middle is operating integration. From there, we reframe outcomes around four executive priorities: performance, resilience, assurance, and compliance. That lens shifts conversations from control checklists to growth, continuity, confidence, and efficient obligations management which is the language leaders use when allocating capital. Then we get practical. We map risk to four integration seams—goals, processes, assets, and policies—so that when a policy changes, linked assets and processes update automatically and related strategic goals reflect the new risk posture. Real examples bring the shift to life, like vendor risk checks built into procurement workflows via live APIs. We also outline the maturity path from foundational and coordinated to embedded, extended across third parties, and ultimately autonomous with AI-driven sensing, testing, mitigation, and verification. The throughline is clear: you cannot buy your way to integration; you must design and wire it. If you’re ready to move from reporting on risk to managing with risk, this conversation is your blueprint. Hear how to build an enterprise nervous system that turns data into action and transforms risk from a cost center into a competitive edge. If this resonates, follow the show, share it with your team, and leave a review to help more leaders find a smarter path to integrated risk. Visit www.therisktechjournal.com and www.rtj-bridge.com to learn more about the topics discussed in today's episode. Subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music. Contact us directly at info@wheelhouseadvisors.com or visit us at LinkedIn or X.com. Our YouTube channel also delivers fast, executive-ready insights on Integrated Risk Management. Explore short explainers, IRM Navigator research highlights, RiskTech Journal analysis, and conversations from The Risk Wheelhouse Podcast. We cover the issues that matter most to modern risk leaders. Every video is designed to sharpen decision making and strengthen resilience in a digital-first world. Subscribe at youtube.com/@WheelhouseAdv.

    26 min
  3. S6E2: Rethinking Integrated Risk, From ROI To Dividends

    JAN 14

    S6E2: Rethinking Integrated Risk, From ROI To Dividends

    Integrated Risk Management (IRM) is repeatedly underfunded for a structural reason: leaders keep forcing IRM into an ROI construct that demands a single, auditable chain of causality, while IRM is designed to distribute value across multiple domains at once. In this episode, Ori Wellington and Sam Jones explain why ROI framing collapses into assumption-stacked narrative under CFO scrutiny, and why risk leaders need a finance-compatible alternative that remains decision-grade. The episode’s answer is a disciplined shift: evaluate IRM with cost/benefit analysis, and label the benefit streams as dividends. Dividends are distributed outcomes that improve enterprise performance and resilience without requiring false precision in a single attributable cash-flow line. Source: RTJ Bridge (Wheelhouse Advisors Premium Research) What executives should take from this episode ROI is the wrong container for IRM. ROI demands strict attribution. IRM delivers system-level uplift where attribution is inherently weak.Use dividends to quantify value in decision-grade terms:Efficiency dividend (cycle time and throughput improvements), with explicit discipline on what becomes realized value.Loss mitigation dividend (reduction in expected loss), modeled through scenarios, frequency, severity, and control effectiveness assumptions.Trust dividend (friction removed), increasingly the gating factor for velocity in an AI-era operating model.Avoid the credibility traps embedded in legacy GRC value calculators. They pull the conversation toward compliance throughput, invite silo double counting, and emphasize backward-looking activity counts rather than continuous assurance.If IRM is positioned as a strategic capability, its value model must be positioned the same way. Build a dividend-based business case that finance can challenge and still accept, then use it to protect and accelerate the enterprise’s highest-leverage investments. Podcast Episode Chapters 0:00 The ROI Mismatch Problem 3:58 Defining Finance-Grade ROI Rigor 7:03 Why IRM Defies Singular Attribution 12:03 Introducing The Dividends Model 15:48 Efficiency Dividend And Its Limits 21:48 Capacity Redeployment Vs Trapped Time 25:58 Quantifying Loss Mitigation Credibly 31:48 Presenting Ranges And Confidence 36:03 The Trust Dividend As Friction Removed Visit www.therisktechjournal.com and www.rtj-bridge.com to learn more about the topics discussed in today's episode. Subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music. Contact us directly at info@wheelhouseadvisors.com or visit us at LinkedIn or X.com. Our YouTube channel also delivers fast, executive-ready insights on Integrated Risk Management. Explore short explainers, IRM Navigator research highlights, RiskTech Journal analysis, and conversations from The Risk Wheelhouse Podcast. We cover the issues that matter most to modern risk leaders. Every video is designed to sharpen decision making and strengthen resilience in a digital-first world. Subscribe at youtube.com/@WheelhouseAdv.

    39 min
  4. S6E1: NVIDIA CES 2026 - The Blueprint for Autonomous IRM

    JAN 7

    S6E1: NVIDIA CES 2026 - The Blueprint for Autonomous IRM

    Season 6 opens with a clear message for Technology Risk Management leaders: autonomy is no longer constrained by model capability, it is constrained by infrastructure discipline and auditable management controls. In S6E1, Ori Wellington and Sam Jones translate NVIDIA’s CES 2026 signals into a practical blueprint for Autonomous IRM, defined as continuous, AI-enabled verification and response loops that operate within explicit policy boundaries and generate audit-grade evidence by design. As inference costs fall, “always-on” control validation becomes economically viable at enterprise scale. That shift forces a new operating model: humans stop chasing evidence and start adjudicating pre-enriched exceptions with decision provenance, context, and rollback paths already assembled. The episode also surfaces the non-negotiables executives must plan for now: Agent runtime as infrastructure: a durable, logged, testable, reversible execution layerAgent control plane: standardized identity, permissions, tool access, evaluation, logging, and rollback to prevent agent sprawlHybrid autonomy: centralized policy with localized execution for latency, sovereignty, and resilienceLong-context assurance: end-to-end traceability that raises retention, privacy, and legal-hold stakesSimulation-based validation: replayable resilience testing and scenario libraries that become first-class assurance artifactsThe call to action is explicit: treat inference economics as a design variable, standardize management controls before scaling, and operationalize simulation as assurance. Visit www.therisktechjournal.com and www.rtj-bridge.com to learn more about the topics discussed in today's episode. Subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music. Contact us directly at info@wheelhouseadvisors.com or visit us at LinkedIn or X.com. Our YouTube channel also delivers fast, executive-ready insights on Integrated Risk Management. Explore short explainers, IRM Navigator research highlights, RiskTech Journal analysis, and conversations from The Risk Wheelhouse Podcast. We cover the issues that matter most to modern risk leaders. Every video is designed to sharpen decision making and strengthen resilience in a digital-first world. Subscribe at youtube.com/@WheelhouseAdv.

    39 min
  5. S5E9: ServiceNow Buys Armis, Telemetry Meets Workflow for IRM

    12/23/2025

    S5E9: ServiceNow Buys Armis, Telemetry Meets Workflow for IRM

    ServiceNow’s planned $7.75B all-cash acquisition of Armis (targeted to close in H2 2026) is easy to misfile as “just another cybersecurity deal.” In this episode, Wheelhouse Advisors’ Ori Wellington and Sam Jones explain why it is actually a defining IRM market signal, one that raises the standard for what “risk management at scale” should mean going into 2026 procurement cycles. The core message is simple and disruptive: IRM is shifting from artifact completion to verified outcomes. Risk registers, control libraries, assessments, and attestations may prove process, but they do not prove exposure was reduced. The deal signals a move toward a unified operating model where real-time asset and exposure intelligence, prioritization logic, and remediation plus verification workflows increasingly sit on a single platform spine. Ori and Sam break down the new credibility threshold for “continuous monitoring” using a practical three-layer test: Visibility: continuous discovery, classification, and exposure scoring across IT, OT, IoT, and medical devicesAction: prioritized routing into owned remediation workflows with clear accountability and SLAsVerification: audit-grade proof remediation occurred and residual exposure is measured and trending down, not just tickets being closedThey also connect this shift to the next wave of agent-assisted operations, with a clear warning: automation without validation can scale noise faster than it scales risk reduction. The episode defines the audit-grade evidence trail IRM leaders should demand, including signal provenance, decision logic, action records, and verification that a fix held over time. Finally, Ori and Sam outline three immediate actions IRM leaders should take now for 2026 planning: rewrite outcome metrics, require closed-loop proofs of value, and explicitly test openness to avoid proprietary data-model lock-in as platform consolidation accelerates. This episode draws from Wheelhouse’s IRM50 OnWatch research note and the IRM50 Vendor Index, and references Wheelhouse’s recently published ERM Vendor Compass Report, where ServiceNow is profiled. Listen now to recalibrate your evaluation standards before 2026 technology plans get locked. Access the full IRM50 OnWatch note and more IRM50 research by subscribing at rtj-bridge.com. Visit www.therisktechjournal.com and www.rtj-bridge.com to learn more about the topics discussed in today's episode. Subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music. Contact us directly at info@wheelhouseadvisors.com or visit us at LinkedIn or X.com. Our YouTube channel also delivers fast, executive-ready insights on Integrated Risk Management. Explore short explainers, IRM Navigator research highlights, RiskTech Journal analysis, and conversations from The Risk Wheelhouse Podcast. We cover the issues that matter most to modern risk leaders. Every video is designed to sharpen decision making and strengthen resilience in a digital-first world. Subscribe at youtube.com/@WheelhouseAdv.

    35 min
  6. S5E8: 2025 ERM Vendor Compass - The New Enterprise Decision Layer

    12/17/2025

    S5E8: 2025 ERM Vendor Compass - The New Enterprise Decision Layer

    Most ERM programs are still built to prove activity, not to produce decisions. In 2025, that gap is becoming visible at the board level, and it is getting punished. The new performance standard is measurable: time to decision and time to evidence. If your ERM platform runs on annual cycles and manual synthesis, you are not steering the enterprise, you are documenting the past. In this episode, we unpack the 2025 IRM Navigator™ Vendor Compass for Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and explain why ERM must operate as the enterprise decision layer: operationalizing risk appetite into quantified thresholds, maintaining a living scenario portfolio, and reusing verified evidence from ORM, TRM, and GRC to trigger defensible, board-grade actions. We walk through the IRM Navigator™ Model and place ERM at the Goals integration point, where strategic ambition becomes decision routines. Then we decode our Vendor Compass: two axes, solution coverage and level of integration, reveal which platforms can support executive decision cadence and unify evidence with provenance. You will also hear how to interpret tiers through a maturity lens, from Integrators (Archer, Diligent) to Accelerators (ServiceNow, Riskonnect, IBM OpenPages) to Pace Setters (LogicGate, Workiva). We also introduce VC Sonar for ERM, a forward-looking scan of specialized signal providers and integration enablers that can materially shorten time to evidence and accelerate the path from extended toward autonomous IRM. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: which board decision is consistently slow because the evidence is still fragmented? Visit www.therisktechjournal.com and www.rtj-bridge.com to learn more about the topics discussed in today's episode. Subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music. Contact us directly at info@wheelhouseadvisors.com or visit us at LinkedIn or X.com. Our YouTube channel also delivers fast, executive-ready insights on Integrated Risk Management. Explore short explainers, IRM Navigator research highlights, RiskTech Journal analysis, and conversations from The Risk Wheelhouse Podcast. We cover the issues that matter most to modern risk leaders. Every video is designed to sharpen decision making and strengthen resilience in a digital-first world. Subscribe at youtube.com/@WheelhouseAdv.

    36 min
  7. 12/09/2025

    S5E7: Stop Buying Better Silos: How the IRM Navigator™ Curve Exposes RiskTech Hype

    Feeling lost in a sea of “next‑gen” risk tools that all promise unified visibility and maturity? We break the cycle of flashy demos and stalled implementations with a practical, research‑backed way to evaluate vendors and build a roadmap that actually advances your program. Anchored by the IRM Navigator Curve from Wheelhouse Advisors, we chart the journey from fragmented, audit‑driven dysfunction to a destination we call risk agency, where human judgment and machine action work together within clear guardrails. We unpack the five maturity levels—foundational, coordinated, embedded, extended, autonomous—and show how progress depends on investing across four domains in sequence: GRC for policies, ERM for goals, ORM for processes, and TRM for assets and telemetry. The core message is simple and urgent: you cannot buy your way into maturity. Without unified policies, goals, and workflows, advanced tech becomes an expensive documentation tool. To cut through marketing noise, we share a two‑minute, three‑question diagnostic that slots any vendor: 1) which domain does it improve next, 2) does it unify or deepen silos, and 3) does it reduce work or only document it. Then we map real‑world vendor profiles to the curve to illustrate exactly where each solution can take you. You’ll leave with a decision framework that drives strategic budgeting, prevents lateral moves into better silos, and focuses every purchase on measurable progress. We also point to Vendor Compass and Sonar research from Wheelhouse Advisors that assess market leaders and innovators like Riskonnect, ServiceNow, OneTrust, Archer, and top consultancies through this lens. Ready to replace feature checklists with a roadmap to risk agency? Follow, share with your team, and tell us where your program sits on the curve and what’s blocking your next step. Visit www.therisktechjournal.com and www.rtj-bridge.com to learn more about the topics discussed in today's episode. Subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music. Contact us directly at info@wheelhouseadvisors.com or visit us at LinkedIn or X.com. Our YouTube channel also delivers fast, executive-ready insights on Integrated Risk Management. Explore short explainers, IRM Navigator research highlights, RiskTech Journal analysis, and conversations from The Risk Wheelhouse Podcast. We cover the issues that matter most to modern risk leaders. Every video is designed to sharpen decision making and strengthen resilience in a digital-first world. Subscribe at youtube.com/@WheelhouseAdv.

    38 min
  8. 11/26/2025

    S5E6: Build An Emerging Risk Reflex Before The Next Shock Hits

    A hard truth drives this conversation: leaders are seeing the risks but not making the moves. We unpack the 76–42–22 drop-off, visibility to engagement to action, and show why the real bottleneck isn’t data, it’s decision architecture. If your board keeps asking for tighter numbers and firmer timelines, you’re living the reporting plateau. Precision can be counterproductive for emerging risks: it invites model debates, signals high-cost commitments, and rationalizes delay. We walk through a better path built on solution options. Instead of fear-based dashboards, bring low regret actions that borrow existing budgets, quantify the cost of waiting, and sequence work across quarters. A simple shift to training three cross-functional leads on new AI rules, wiring KRIs to a pilot, and setting a Q3 decision point turns a vague threat into a paced plan. Boards respond to choices and trade-offs, not speculative confidence intervals. To make this repeatable, we use the IRM Navigator model: GRC, ERM, ORM, and TRM working in balance. ERM ties risks to growth, margin, and launch timelines so decisions map to value. ORM surfaces real-time KRIs and near misses to anchor action in reality. TRM connects controls to live telemetry, enabling continuous monitoring and swift technical adjustments. GRC provides the rigor to document, test, and assure. Together, the four domains deliver PRAC: performance, resilience, assurance, and compliance without sacrificing speed. We share a concrete action plan: audit your investment asymmetry, kill problem-precision packets, adopt solution-options reporting, wire ORM and TRM into analysis, and measure success by decision velocity. Vendors and advisors are shifting too, judged by how quickly they convert a signal into a board-approved step. If you want your organization to move when the stakes are highest, build the emerging risk reflex now. If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a colleague who owns risk or strategy, and leave a quick review with your biggest takeaway. What low regret move will you make this quarter? Visit www.therisktechjournal.com and www.rtj-bridge.com to learn more about the topics discussed in today's episode. Subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music. Contact us directly at info@wheelhouseadvisors.com or visit us at LinkedIn or X.com. Our YouTube channel also delivers fast, executive-ready insights on Integrated Risk Management. Explore short explainers, IRM Navigator research highlights, RiskTech Journal analysis, and conversations from The Risk Wheelhouse Podcast. We cover the issues that matter most to modern risk leaders. Every video is designed to sharpen decision making and strengthen resilience in a digital-first world. Subscribe at youtube.com/@WheelhouseAdv.

    38 min

About

The Risk Wheelhouse is designed to explore how RiskTech is transforming the way companies approach risk management today and into the future. The podcast aims to provide listeners with valuable insights into integrated risk management (IRM) practices and emerging technologies. Each episode will feature a "Deep Dive" into specific topics or research reports developed by Wheelhouse Advisors, helping listeners navigate the complexities of the modern risk landscape.