BACKGROUND

HomeServe provide home emergency insurance policies to more than 5 million customers across UK, USA, France, and Spain. An increased product portfolio and rapid growth internationally had created a strong demand for the firm to update its risk management data practices for greater visibility and increased efficiency.

REQUIREMENTS

The risk management function at HomeServe is responsible for independently reporting to HomeServe’s governance committees. To achieve this, data had to be collected from different functions and various spreadsheets, then compiled into a common, reportable format.

This process was very labour intensive, with excessive amounts of time spent simply managing risk data. Additionally, the use of spreadsheets and Word documents made it difficult to preserve data integrity. At the same time, updating and sharing risk data was extremely challenging and increased the likelihood of error.

CHALLENGES

Number one

Increased product portfolio and international growth sparked demand for risk management update

Very manual process for collecting and formatting risk data from multiple business units

Poor data control and increased likelihood of errors

Difficulties visualizing and linking risks across the business

Incident management processes needed strengthening to ensure all incidents were logged and tracked

As a result, HomeServe had clear objectives to achieve when evaluating a new risk management solution, including:

  • Efficiently track, monitor, assess and control risks to ensure quality and consistency of risk data across multiple business units. Previously HomeServe found it very challenging to link risks from one area of the business to another, which made it hard to measure the effectiveness of controls.
  • Comprehensively report on all risk activity, risk status, and changes in risk profiles.
  • Increase risk visibility across the business, with different access levels to different data sets, as part of an initiative to empower frontline risk managers to take fuller responsibility of risk, while enabling an overview to be shared with second- and third-line control functions. Reports also needed to be based on live risk data.
  • Ensure all incidents are easily recorded and processed in a consistent manner. All incidents need recording and assigning for processing, as part of HomeServe’s governance regime, to ensure any remedial action required is identified and carried out as appropriate.

BENEFITS

Number one

A “single version of the truth” across the organization

Increased data integrity from a centralized risk solution

Real-time view of risk provides up-to-date governance perspective

Full audit trail of risk assessments

Multiple scoring schemes enable HomeServe to measure risks relative to the business-unit hierarchy

Custom workflows and email notifications ensure correct processes are followed

Incidents can easily be logged

WHY RISKONNECT

“The main driver of acquiring the system was to embed risk management down into the front line. We chose Riskonnect because we knew they could deliver a solution for us in the timeframe we needed.”
— Stuart Austin, Senior Risk Manager, Homeserve

KEY BENEFITS

  • Improved data quality and consistency across multiple business units:
    Using a centralized risk solution, data integrity has been drastically increased. HomeServe no longer relies upon numerous different complex spreadsheets and Word documents to manage, collect, and format risk data.

    Validation rules based on HomeServe’s process criteria mandate a high quality of risk data.

  • Comprehensive risk reporting:
    HomeServe now has a real-time view of risk data from a governance and audit perspective. Different business units can enter their own data into the system and access the information when they need it, meaning the risk department can report and manage risk data much more efficiently.

    Custom configurable reports, including the risk register and risk details, give HomeServe full risk visibility, while historical and current risk assessment values provide a complete audit trail.

  • Increased risk visibility across the business, while maintaining a hierarchical business unit structure:
    Different departments have access to a real-time holistic view of risks and incidents across the entire organization.

    Multiple scoring schemes for different risk portfolios and business units enable HomeServe to systematically manage different types of risks and ensure that the correct risk ratings are consistently measured and reported across the business.

  • All risk events are easily recorded and processed in a consistent manner:
    HomeServe staff members do not require a license to log risk events. This can be done via a secure online portal embedded into the HomeServe intranet, meaning that these can be logged without the need for a login to Riskonnect.

    Custom workflows and automated notifications ensure all risks are recorded, and mitigating actions and controls are put in place.