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Glossary · Management

ALE

Annualized Loss Expectancy

In plain language

A dollar estimate of how much a specific risk is expected to cost a business in a year.

The metaphor

Like setting aside a storm-damage budget each year: an average across good years and bad.

Going deeper

How it works

  • Multiplies the cost of one event by how often it is expected.
  • Helps compare the cost of protection to the cost of loss.
  • Is an estimate and depends on assumptions.
  • Used in risk assessments and insurance talks.

How WILDCARD handles it

vCIO helps put numbers on risks so spending decisions are easier.

In practice
  • Laptop theft costs two thousand dollars each time and happens twice a year, so the yearly figure is four thousand.
  • A planned backup service is compared to the yearly cost of lost data.
  • An insurer asks for the numbers behind a risk.

A question owners ask

Are the numbers reliable?

They are good for comparison, less so for precision. Use ranges and update them each year.

Where WILDCARD handles this
✨
vCIO
  • Fractional CIO on retainer
  • Moonlight, Sunlight, Starlight tiers
  • Credits for single outputs
Start with vCIO
Related terms
AIArtificial IntelligenceAROAnnualized Rate of OccurrenceAUPAcceptable Use PolicyBCPBusiness Continuity PlanningBIABusiness Impact AnalysisCARCorrective Action ReportCIOChief Information OfficerCIRTComputer Incident Response Team

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