AI in Business Resilience: A Lesson in Risk vs. Reward

I’ve been in the field of business continuity for many years. In that time, there are a few lessons I’ve learned:

• It’s fluid. As the world changes with evolving consumer expectations, technologies and business practices, so do continuity strategies. In fact, it wasn’t too long ago that we started speaking about continuity as resilience – a major shift in and of itself.
• It’s perpetual. No matter how much we progress in terms of preparations, security measures and all of the foundations that contribute to business resilience, so, too, does risk.
• It’s a learning process. Based on lessons one and two, it shouldn’t be a surprise then that building resilience is a process in which we never stop learning.

All of these realizations which I’ve made over the years are more evident than ever as we navigate the age of AI, where we’re not just the recipients of data, but data and delegation. AI tools are designed in the same way for everyone – how we make them work for our credit unions is the differentiator, and, ironically, this can be determined by using the age-old risk versus reward analysis as part of the business resilience process.

The Risks

Data quality, bias and “garbage in, garbage out.” False confidence in AI outputs can fuel disruptions rather than contain it. AI intelligence is based on what the software learns from. If information is outdated or skewed to favor a certain perspective, it can cause problems (or exacerbate them in times of emergency), not create solutions.

Over-automation can eclipse human judgment. Without context and ethical interventions, AI can have inappropriate responses to new events. The human touch is imperative here because there are lessons learned from past experience, as we touched on earlier. While you don’t want to cloud your decisions with emotions and opinions, as can be the case sometimes in emergency situations, relying strictly on AI-informed facts also isn’t the answer. A combination of artificial and human intelligence is key here.

Cybersecurity and adversarial risks. Businesses aren’t the only ones leveraging AI in their day-to-day operations. Cyber attackers are too, and not just as their tools, but as their targets. A new attack vector has surfaced as AI becomes more mainstream and criminals are using it to take down businesses. If your credit union is compromised, any and all AI tools tied to your organization could increase failures in your response plans rather than preventing them.

Regulatory and compliance uncertainty. As AI grows, it’s being integrated into regulatory and compliance structures, which means there are very stringent rules for its use, but many areas are still gray. As operations change, especially during times of crisis, AI could play a different role than originally intended. But what is acceptable today may not be tomorrow, and your credit union must remain compliant to avoid legal exposure.

The Rewards

Predictive risk detection and early warning. The risk of an emergency situation – from severe weather to a data breach – is always lurking, but AI can see into the shadows with predictive analyses. This early detection increases your team’s decision time and can even reduce the severity of a disruption, allowing your credit union to be more proactive against threats than reactive. That’s an invaluable stance in the world of business resilience.

Faster, data-driven decision making. With those predictive capabilities and continued learning, AI offers the opportunity for your decision makers to see outcomes more clearly with real data and actionable recommendations, reducing downtime during a crisis and facilitating a more consistent response.

Automation of response and recovery activities. A critical benefit of AI is that it can be programmed to understand the ins and outs of your credit union, from goals and relationship standards to policies and procedures. That translates to improved continuity because it will work within the boundaries of your organization, leading to workflows that can be automated ahead of time so you don’t have to rely on slower manual intervention and can remain focused on faster recovery efforts.

What’s Your Consensus?

With the emergence of AI, business resilience is no longer simply about continuity and disaster recovery plans. It’s about being proactive, staying nimble and finding the proper tools to help your credit union face crises when they arise. Whether AI has a place in your resilience efforts is ultimately up to you, but an analysis of the risks versus rewards can put the pros and the cons in perspective. And remember, there are always new lessons to learn along the way…will AI be part of your business resilience journey?

Mark Clarke works as the business continuity administrator for Vizo Financial Corporate Credit Union. In this role, Mr. Clarke supports the performance of business continuity planning, business impact analysis and business continuity training for the Corporate and the credit union industry. Mr. Clarke also delivers tailored consulting services for credit unions, assisting them with their specific business continuity needs.