Key Takeaways:
- Insider Threats Are a Business Risk, Not Just a Security Concern
Seventy-four percent of cybersecurity incidents originate from within the organization. Insider Risk Management (IRM) platforms help identify risks early before they escalate into costly incidents. Insider risk affects security, finance, HR, compliance, and legal departments. Success depends on cross-functional collaboration across these teams.
- CFOs Look for ROI, Not Just Risk Reduction
Next-generation IRM tools reduce investigation time, avoid breach costs, and deliver measurable value in productivity and brand protection.
- Compliance Requires Audit-Ready Visibility
Legal and compliance leaders need accurate records to meet regulatory demands. IRM enables faster audits and more vigorous policy enforcement.
- Culture and Productivity Go Together
HR teams utilize IRM insights to identify burnout and disengagement, fostering healthier hybrid work environments and enhancing team performance.
- Next-Gen IRM Platforms Deliver Unified Behavioral Intelligence
Modern IRM integrates behavior data, sentiment analysis, and alerts across systems, enabling teams to act on emerging risks with clarity.
Who Buys Insider Risk Management? A Business Case Across Roles
Introduction
A staggering 74% of cybersecurity incidents originate from within, and when looking at insider risk, 82% of incidents result from unintentional actions by well-meaning employees. More people are working from home, bringing their own devices, and connecting globally, which is widening the threat landscape. Attackers are more advanced, as they utilize AI and other technology to make their phishing and hacking attempts more sophisticated. As the threat landscape continues to expand and evolve, it’s important to adapt with it. With many more endpoints, communication tools, and data moving through organizations, we need to close the insider threat gap with an Insider Risk Management (IRM) solution.
According to the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024, approximately 16% of data breaches result from stolen or compromised credentials, and these incidents cost an average of $4.88 million in legal fees, crisis communications, work interruption, and brand erosion. What if there were a modern solution to help with insider risk management, anticipating risks before they become incidents? Let’s take this one step further and examine how it solves business risk across the organization.
Key Stakeholders Who May Care about IRM
It’s crucial to consider each part of the business and its unique perspectives when addressing insider risk. Some may debate the importance of creating a culture of security and compliance, yet this is increasingly crucial to the board, shareholders, and the bottom line. Taking this further, each group of stakeholders cares about having an IRM program. It’s a good idea to understand what each person or group cares most about when it comes to insider risk and consult with them as appropriate. Note that each organization has different people and structures, so your organization may have one or many of these groups.
The Security Team, CISO, or CIO
As the leader of the security team, your role has become significantly more complex with a hybrid workforce. The company and board of directors expect that you have locked every door and handled risk proactively, despite having limited resources. With an increasing number of people working remotely, it becomes harder to monitor and respond to the evolving attack landscape. Insider Risk Management is a top 10 priority overall for 2025 (according to the Ponemon Institute), so you need a plan and technology to manage insider risk.
The CFO and Finance Team
You are up at night thinking about increasing revenue and decreasing bottom-line expenses. You want a profitable business and do not want insider risk to stand in the way. Since the Board of Directors and business leaders care about having a plan and tools in place, you want to ensure that you’re getting the best return on investment (ROI) and value. You have read about the cost of a breach and understand the impact it would have on your business. You need proof that your IRM investment delivers ROI, reduces risk, avoids multimillion-dollar breach costs, and safeguards shareholder value. You trust your security team to find a next-gen IRM solution, and you care about lowering risk.
The Legal and Compliance Teams
You are concerned with compliance and policy adherence, as is your board of directors and executive team. You need digital proof for audits and do not want to be fined for being out of compliance. You want a sophisticated system that allows the organization to remain regulation-compliant, provides monitoring, tailors the technology to meet specific needs, and, most importantly, IRM provides defensible digital trails across apps, endpoints, and cloud environments. Insider Risk Management enables organizations to meet evolving compliance mandates with reduced manual effort.
HR Leadership
Your number one concern is people, and you care that they are productive. You work closely with the security team to create security training, and you’re also working closely with the legal and compliance team to help them understand who has access to what. You are trying to create a cohesive culture in a hybrid world, and you need help understanding people’s behavior and when they should and should not be using specific software. You are open to a solution that reduces insider risk and provides greater visibility as people work from various locations. You can now detect disengagement early and manage investigations fairly, all while fostering a culture of trust, not surveillance.
ROI From Investing in Next-gen IRM Solutions
When evaluating IRM solutions, it’s critical to focus on advanced tools that use cutting-edge technology. IRM needs to go beyond stagnant rules and instead utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide insights from data. These next-gen IRM solutions include the human aspect in risk management. Next-gen IRM offers fully integrated tools that provide context, overlaying behavioral information to enhance understanding. This advanced IRM solution enables you to anticipate risks before they become costly incidents.
They help you act and explore new and different communication tools, such as chat and mobile, and conduct sentiment and behavioral analysis. IRM solutions demonstrate a return on investment (ROI) by reducing risk, lowering costs, and saving time. Additionally, IRM provides a complete view of internal attack vectors.
Wrap Up and Next Steps
It’s essential to know who within your organization will benefit from bringing in IRM, so that you can build excitement, trust, and usage within the organization once it’s implemented. Reducing risk is a cross-functional priority that involves building a culture, having good data, and maintaining visibility into your team’s digital behavior. Ready to reduce insider risk at your organization? Let’s chat.
FAQs About IRM for the Buying Committee
Q: Who benefits from an IRM platform?
A: Many people and teams will benefit from an IRM platform. Veriato can help make the IRM process as streamlined and simple as possible for you and your team.
Q: How does IRM show return on investment?
A: By reducing investigation time, avoiding regulatory fines, and preventing breaches, IRM delivers significant cost savings and operational efficiency.
Q: What makes next-generation IRM different from legacy tools?
A: It leverages machine learning to detect behavioral anomalies and integrates with systems like DLP and SIEM to provide complete context.
Q: Can IRM help with compliance reporting?
A: Yes. IRM provides audit-ready records and supports proactive policy enforcement across digital systems.
Q: Does IRM invade employee privacy?
A: No. Veriato utilizes redacted views, role-based access, and transparency to ensure privacy while maintaining necessary oversight and control.
Insider Risk – How Prepared Are You?
Not every company is equally prepared to deal with insider risk. This report outlines the four stages of insider risk maturity and explores how to improve your insider risk preparedness.
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