Well-managed risks equal well-managed brands. In fact, integrated risk management and brand management are arguably one and the same. Here’s why: A company’s brand is really the company itself. Therefore, risks that could shake the business to its core can shake the brand to its core, as well.
Too often brand management is thought of as a company logo, a catchy marketing slogan or pretty advertisements in all the right places. However, brand management is so much more. An organization’s brand is its DNA. Managing that means ensuring consumers, competitors and employees perceive your products and services – as well as your resilience – how you want them to be perceived. It means what you see is what you get.
But perception must also be reality…not just an image you package in a glossy brochure and expect the world to believe. In today’s environment of constant connectedness, with social media and the like, one misstep can be exposed around the globe in no time flat –putting your organization in crisis management mode, rather than a mode of risk and brand management.
Such transparency to the outside world could be difficult to achieve, however, without the same level of transparency across your organization…and, without the mindset that all things risk are all things brand.
Consider this: Vendor management is a key component of operational enterprise risk management. But it also can be critical to brand management. While vendors can adversely affect a company because of compliance or liability risks, they can also impact a company’s brand if they aren’t aligned with a company’s overall mission or value proposition.
For example, Stanley Steemer recently overhauled its vendor management program using a risk management information system (RMIS) to ensure both internal compliance regarding certificates of insurance and external-facing supplier quality since customer service is a hallmark of its brand.
Read three tips for successfully managing vendors.
The reason risk management technology can be so helpful with managing enterprise-wide risks – and therefore preventing any associated brand erosion – is because they consolidate all areas of risk effectively and efficiently, in one source of truth, to reduce costs and enable insights that have previously been unobtainable.
This helps to facilitate the transparency needed to ensure “what you see is what you get.” Perhaps this is why so many companies that depend on risk management technology are recognized by the 2017 Harris Poll EquiTrend Rankings as brands that create powerful connections with consumers.
Click here to find out more how risk management technology can help you turn insights into action — preserving not only your business from impending risks but also preserving your brand from the implications of those risks.
