A study from US-based researcher AMR Research found that 46 per cent of companies are expected to implement or evaluate risk management technology in the coming 12 months.

Spending on risk management generally is also set to increase, with 54 per cent of firms ramping up spending. The average spending increase will be 17 per cent.

Australian research covering 130 risk management and compliance departments, commissioned by Risk Management, found that technology is the most likely tool to be introduced this year with 12 per cent of departments planning software upgrades. Additionally, close to two-thirds of risk and compliance departments now have their own budget, with the average budget size being around $1million.

While some are expected to increase spending on software and consulting, the primary cost remains wages, which consume 62 per cent of budgets.

Although many organisations have upgraded risk and compliance technology in recent years, some remain in the market for tools. Moreover, a growing trend is for in-house development of risk management tools based on the .Net architecture after reviewing the vendor market for risk management software packages.