The just-released 2021 RMIS Report, published by Redhand Advisors, reveals that the independent RMIS marketplace has grown at a faster rate over the past five years than at any time in its history. It points to several factors driving this expansion.

  • Increased visibility of risk in organizations and the adoption of an integrated approach to managing risk across the enterprise
  • Integrated risk management approaches by RMIS vendors that expand their capabilities beyond the traditional strengths of RMIS to include ERM, GRC, and EH&S capabilities
  • Technology advances, such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), artificial intelligence (AI), and advanced analytics
  • Advances in product functionality, including highly configurable dashboards, advanced workflow, automation, and mobile capabilities

Add up all these factors and it comes down to ONE thing – organizations not only want but need a new, more comprehensive way of looking at risk. While this need may not have been keenly felt before, the COVID-19 pandemic added a new urgency to gaining an integrated view of risk. A comprehensive view is now essential.

The report explains: “Many organizations were not prepared. Risk professionals were front and center, but many felt like they didn’t have the tools to effectively manage the response and were faced with operating in unprecedented ways. They had to deal with significant challenges while at the same time becoming more technology dependent than ever.”

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

1. How in tune is the vendor with customer needs?

Riskonnect pioneered the journey to integrated risk management. We were the first RMIS provider to deliver a platform that integrates insurable and noninsurable risk for a 360-degree view of an organization’s risk posture. And we continue to lead the market in innovation, thanks to the close relationships and ongoing conversations we enjoy with our customers.

From the start, we integrated ERM with RMIS. Since then, we have continued to make significant investments in integrated risk management. We now offer a complete, integrated RMIS and GRC suite, including ERM, Third-Party Risk Management, Compliance, Operational Resilience, and Internal Audit.

We are thrilled that Redhand is including the expanded ERM/GRC category in the report. And we are even more thrilled to be recognized as the most comprehensive RMIS solution in the market. This validates Riskonnect’s mission to help organizations see risk from an entirely new perspective.

We are also happy to see other providers in the market following our lead. We have long believed that expanded integrated risk capabilities are what customers need to comprehensively manage risk. However, be aware that not all integrated risk platforms are equal.

Some vendors claim their solution is integrated, but the so-called integration is only between incident reporting, claims, and other facets of insured risk. That’s all well and good – until, say, a large claim relates to a third-party supplier and all of your information related to that third-party risk is in some other application. How are you supposed to make that connection with a dead-end system before more damage is done?

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

Some vendors 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 timeline and budget.

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 two industry-leading implementation options designed to achieve business objectives as quickly as possible:

    • Riskonnect’s Best Practice Configuration applies collective experience from hundreds of customers across all industries to get you to go-live faster. This accelerated implementation approach based on industry best practices sets you up for any necessary follow-on configurations and ensures complete alignment with the Riskonnect product roadmap.
    • Riskonnect’s Customer Configuration configures a solution specifically around your own integrated risk management needs. We apply our established methodology to align your 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.

The RMIS report affirms the ROI of this innovative approach by acknowledging that Riskonnect has the most significant growth in customer satisfaction year over year. We appreciate Redhand’s recognition of this leading program: “We have observed that Riskonnect has made a substantial investment in their customer success strategy over the past year, as evidenced by their user survey feedback and NPS year over year.”

6. What do customers have to say?

Don’t take the word of the vendor. Consider how many customers are willing to reference their experience.

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. At the same time, we are also privileged to work 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. The 2021 RMIS Report offers convincing evidence of customer commitment to Riskonnect:

    • The highest number of respondents for independent providers
    • Highest tier of customers amongst independent providers
    • Highest tier of users amongst independent providers
    • Highest tier of revenue amongst independent providers
    • Highest number of resources amongst independent providers

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?

When we say Riskonnect gives you a view you can’t get anywhere else, we mean integrated, easy-to-use software – and a total dedication to customer outcomes. Both elements are essential for the greatest ROI. Is your current approach lacking? Maybe it’s time to expand your view of risk. To that we ask you the question we ask so many others: “How’s your view?”

For more information, download the full 2021 RMIS Report.
Find more on Riskonnect’s RMIS solution here.