The just-released 2023 RMIS Report, published by Redhand Advisors, reveals that integrated risk management is continuing to gain popularity, as more organizations adopt a comprehensive approach to better manage risk and decisions. Organizations are also accelerating their reliance on data analytics, and many are looking to adopt big-data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning within the next three years.

The report identifies several trends driving the interest in integrated risk management technology:

  • More companies of all sizes are using a RMIS to manage nontraditional types of risks, including compliance and third party.
  • Smaller organizations are investing in RMIS technology at a faster rate than any other size group.
  • Technology innovation leads to more innovation.
  • Many companies say they still rely too much on spreadsheets to manage risk.

The report points out that the current risk environment is high for many businesses because of cybersecurity concerns, difficulties with hiring and retaining talent, the hardening insurance market, and continuing economic uncertainty.

“Organizations are willing to invest in technology because they see how integrating it into their risk management processes will be critical to reducing overall liability and improving compliance,” explains the report.

To expand on the report’s findings, we believe there are several additional factors to consider when purchasing a RMIS solution.

1. How integrated is the RMIS?

Riskonnect pioneered the journey to integrated risk management. We were the first RMIS provider to put risk under one roof – and we continue to break new ground in innovation to give our customers a view of risk they can’t get anywhere else.

We are gratified to see the market following our lead toward integrated risk management. But beware that not all risk platforms are equally able to integrate. Some vendors claim that their solution is integrated, but the “integration” is limited to connecting incident reporting and claims. That’s not much help if you get, say, a large claim related to a third-party supplier and all of your information related to that third-party risk is stored in some other application.

2. How much data cleansing and consolidation is a do-it-yourself project?

The report calls out lack of data quality as a key contributor to the gap in system effectiveness. Many vendors, in fact, glaze over the data-integration process. Some undercut costs because they expect the customer to deliver clean, consolidated, ready-to-go data. They are happy to sort out any less-than-perfect data – for an additional price. At that point, customers won’t have much choice since the entire system is virtually useless without reliable data. Suddenly, bargain data-transformation line item is not such a great deal.

Riskonnect set the bar to which all other data processors aim their sights.  The best-practice standard is to cleanse data at the source with both standard business rules and customizable edits prior to implementation.

Riskonnect’s fully dedicated Data Transformation Services team can efficiently convert, consolidate, report, and extract data from multiple sources in various formats into usable information. Our team writes more than 500 new data conversions per year and processes 34,000 files annually, accounting for 150+ million claims from over 1,000 distinct sources. Not only does this protect the integrity of information from the start, it saves you from having to fix bad data down the road.

3. Can system administrators configure the software themselves?

Some vendors claim that their RMIS is configurable – when in reality, something as simple as adding a field or creating a custom report requires assistance from customer support. Is a run-of-the-mill change a good use of your service hours?

Riskonnect is easy and intuitive for even nontechnical users to adapt and modify. Our flexible, cloud-based platform gives you the power to get work done – and that includes making everyday changes on your own. You can save your service hours for when added expertise is truly needed.

4. How secure is the RMIS?

Security is a critical issue, and it’s important to dig into vendors’ claims. Where is data housed? Has system security been verified independently? Unidentified problems can impact project timelines and budgets.

Riskonnect protects a company’s data with tight access controls, strong firewalls, and global data centers – and our best-in-class security has been verified by independent third parties.

5. Is that low introductory rate for real?

Don’t be fooled by unusually low entry costs.  Some vendors like to offer extremely low prices, but then gouge you post signature with ongoing change and support fees, along with longer implementation timelines. Be sure you are comparing apples to apples.

We don’t play those pricing games. Riskonnect’s GoLive! implementation services offer three industry-leading implementation options designed to achieve business objectives as quickly as possible:

  • Riskonnect’s Essentials approach gets customers up and running as quickly as possible and sets them up for any necessary follow-on configurations.
  • Riskonnect’s Best Practice Configuration applies collective experience from hundreds of customers across all industries to accelerate implementation, while providing flexibility to tailor specific processes and functions to the needs of the organization.
  • Riskonnect’s Customer Configuration configures a solution specifically around your own integrated risk management needs. We apply our established methodology to align business requirements and use-case sessions with the Riskonnect platform.

As for customer success, Riskonnect flips the script on traditional approaches to customer service by placing outcomes first. Our dedicated customer success team powers the “how” behind customer success by focusing on stakeholder engagement, value, and adoption.

6. What kind of experience does the vendor have?

There is a reason why Riskonnect is the world’s most popular RMIS. We are honored to work with some of the largest organizations in the world – as well as with a substantial number of smaller organizations.

Our goal is to have the scale, reach, and model to reach all customers where, when, and how best fits each of them individually. Whatever our customers need, we want to have the right skill set available at the right time, in the right place – in an increasingly broad and diverse environment of risk.

Keeping up with today’s rapidly changing risk environment isn’t easy – particularly if your existing solution comes at the expense of functionality. What is the cost of a narrow, incomplete view of risk? Do you really want to find out?

Riskonnect puts all your risk under one roof with integrated, easy-to-use software – and a total dedication to customer outcomes. If your current approach is falling short, maybe it’s time to expand your view with a truly integrated solution.

For more information, download the full 2023 RMIS Report, and check out Riskonnect’s Risk Management Information Systems solution.