Everything your organization does involves some level of risk. As such, shouldn’t an organization’s strategy be driven, in part, by risk managers every day — rather than putting you on the sidelines, and only calling upon you when something goes wrong?
The risk management department within many organizations is still type-cast in a one-dimensional world of insurance buying, claims management and hazard risk control. But with enterprise risk management being top of mind for organizational leadership and boards of directors, there has never been a better time to proactively manage risk in a way that creates value.
The following five steps will help you take charge of your risk management program, and while each step might seem like a major feat in itself, they are entirely possible — especially with advances in technology that facilitate such initiatives. The steps include:
- Break down the silos within your organization: Transparency among different departments — perhaps more than anything else — can shift a risk management program to being more strategic and successful. Shared data and cooperative work arrangements — enabled by the right risk management technology — can propel this initiative forward.
- Take your seat at the decision making table: Becoming a critical, integral part of your organization’s strategic decision making process may take some work depending on the culture of your organization. But if you have the data and tools to showcase the value of your programs, decision making or role within the organization, you’ll likely be able to make your case with great ease.
- Support good decision making, fast: Like it or not, the pace of business in today’s environment often won’t allow much time for deliberation and thought — as scary as that might sound. That’s why it’s so important to have accurate data in easy-to-digest formats at your fingertips, and ready to be shared with stakeholders, at a moment’s notice. So at least speedy decision making can still be sound decision making.
- Reduce the total cost of risk: Help your insurance program reach its optimal level of performance. Risk management technology lets you quickly and accurately measure a program’s overall costs, and dig deeper into other risk-related activities. As a result, it’s easier to generate action plans for reducing even non-insurable risks. Further, you can prove the value of those action plans — driven by you — and showcase your value too.
- Make time for more strategic activity: Oftentimes, you might be so mired in day-to-day administrative risk management activities that it’s hard to come up for air — let alone be strategic. Risk management technology helps automate risk management processes across the entire enterprise — streamlining tactical activities so you can get to the heart of what’s driving risk at your organization and make an impact that really matters.
Without a doubt, you’ve probably considered each of these steps at one time or another — thinking, “if only my organization wasn’t so siloed,” or “if only I had time to be strategic.” And without the right tools in place, it’s easy to see how one could become overwhelmed by just one of these steps alone.
However, today’s risk management technology can make all the difference in your organization’s risk management initiatives. With the right technology and best practices in place, you or your risk analysts will — finally — be able to effectively analyze risk management data.
As a result, you can improve the risk culture; raise risk awareness; reduce total costs and earnings volatility; maximize your organization’s risk-adjusted return opportunity; and offer smarter mitigation strategies. Rather than spending valuable time collecting data, you will have the tools you need to save time and money, make better decisions, and position your organization to be more competitive.
