Having the right tool makes any job easier – and managing risk is no exception. Too often, though, organizations make do with spreadsheets or an outdated legacy system simply because that’s the way it’s always been done.

New Risk Management Information System – RMIS – tools can make all aspects of managing risk easier, faster, and more effective.

A RMIS provides invaluable support for risk management by seamlessly integrating people, systems, and data from multiple internal and external sources into a single source of truth. It streamlines and automates routine processes so you can spend less time chasing down data and more time analyzing what it means. A RMIS also opens lines of communication and promotes collaboration among stakeholders.

The most popular RMIS application is to manage claims. And it does make managing claims easy, fast, and accurate. But that’s just the beginning of what a RMIS can do for risk management. Here are some of the most popular ways to use a RMIS:

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RMIS TOOL WHAT WHY
Certificate Management Streamlines management and compliance tracking for incoming Certificates of Insurance to reduce exposure from contractors, tenants, suppliers, and other business partners. Manually keeping track of COIs that are about to expire or fall out of compliance is a challenging, time-consuming process – and the more partners you have, the more likely it is for something to fall through the cracks.
Claims Administration Provides full support from first notice to adjudication, payment, and subrogation for organizations that manage their own claims or manage claims on behalf of others. The longer a claim lingers, the more expensive it is. Monitoring claim information in spreadsheets, documents, and emails is time-consuming and error-prone – and it’s difficult to gauge the full impact on the organization.
Claims Regulatory Compliance Proactively monitors current and potential regulation, manages relationships with external entities, and executes documentation to ensure regulatory compliance. Successfully navigating the complex rules and regulations around claims is a big job with steep consequences for noncompliance.
Cost Allocations Accurately allocates premiums and fees based on your actual experience and methodology. Holding managers accountable for their own losses is a powerful motivator to make necessary changes. Yet manually allocating shared costs is time consuming and often fraught with inaccuracies – which undermines credibility.
Exposure Management Automates ongoing values collection, tracks submitted values in real time, and shows important changes from year to year. Collecting, entering, formatting, and consolidating loss exposure information via email, documents, or phone calls is incredibly inefficient and error prone – and it has to be repeated for every renewal.
Incident Management Captures data right at the source to quickly and accurately get information to those who can investigate, evaluate, and take action. Even one safety incident can be devastating to finances, reputation, and lives – yet incidents don’t always get reported if the process is too cumbersome. And if can be difficult to make sense of information if disparate systems are used.
Insurance Management Tracks and manages all of your insurance policies and features, including premiums, layers, limits, deductibles, carriers, and more. Answering even simple questions about coverage can be difficult and time consuming if the information is buried in paper files or stored with a broker.
Root Cause Analysis Quickly identifies underlying issues so safety measures can be taken in time to prevent future risk. Costly incidents will keep happening until you stop treating symptoms and cure the real cause of the problem.
Reporting & Analytics Combines powerful analytics with intuitive and flexible report design tools to help you make better decisions around your risk data. Risk data is just numbers unless you have real-time reports and meaningful graphics to reveal the story behind the data points.

According to Business Insurance, the top three RMIS functionalities are:
RMIS functionalities

What Type of RMIS Support Do You Need?

With a new-generation RMIS, you can select the applications you need to manage risk now – and easily add more as your organization grows and changes. The single, comprehensive, up-to-the minute workflow continuum possible with today’s RMIS also gives you the visibility and context to identify emerging risks and respond to nascent trends that might have gone unnoticed if the data is spread across disconnected spreadsheets.

Simply put, the more you ask of your RMIS, the more powerful it will be. Adding Incident Management to Claims Administration, for instance, allows you to see the complete story – including all documentation, correspondence, photos, and financial information – in one place. Advanced Reporting & Analytics can use your incident and claims data to identify similar incidents in the earliest stages. Applying a Root Cause Analysis tool can help you get to the bottom of an incident so corrective action can be taken in time to prevent future problems.

Whatever specific tools you decide to use, a RMIS can help you turn vast amounts of risk management data into clear opportunities to mitigate losses and lower overall costs – which will have a positive impact on the bottom line for years to come.

For more on selecting the right RMIS, check out our e-book Risk Management Information Systems: The Buyer’s Guide.