Today and tomorrow’s complex risk landscape requires a multi-faceted enterprise toolset that, up until recently, was composed of manual processes and procedures handled by disparate departments and/or divisions in the organization. Fortunately, recent innovations in software as a service, cloud technologies, and platform development have allowed firms to implement integrated risk management (IRM) approaches for achieving pragmatic objectives, all in concert with the overall organization’s business drivers and requirements.
In this article, we’ll examine 7 reasons why your company needs an integrated risk management solution in 2022 and beyond.
7 Reasons Your Company Needs IRM in 2022
To stay competitive and operationally efficient these days, companies require solutions for executive decision support that are continuously updated and capable of servicing and drawing insights from multiple organizations across the organization. The following reasons for adopting an IRM encompass these capabilities and more—all in real-time, on-demand.
A Unified, Holistic View of Risk
An IRM solution integrates various views of risk into a single pane of glass for unified monitoring and management. On the risk level, this allows for the assessment and management of multiple risk dimensions/types in a single interface; in terms of data, this allows for the collection and storage of all insurance management information in a single location, reducing the potential of data siloing and unknown data complexities/conflicts. Additionally, risk and insurance information is typically readily available at the click of a button.
Converged Risk Analysis to Power Decision-Making
Having a converged view of the organization’s risk posture is not just a matter of convenience; with a streamlined risk monitoring/management system integrating multiple risk dimensions across the firm, managers can better understand how the different risk factors interact and potentially impact each other, resulting in more informed and effective risk mitigation measures in line with the objectives and risk profile of the organization.
Access to Un-siloed, Standardized Risk Data
As mentioned previously, traditional approaches to risk management involved disjointed, disparate processes and datastores that more often resulted in misaligned, often competing risk objectives and isolated knowledge repositories. By moving to an IRM solution, an organization empowers its workers to integrate/coordinate their risk management processes and objectives, all under the umbrella of the firm’s overarching risk management program. In turn, stakeholders and decision-makers always have a high confidence level regarding the quality and consistency of the organization’s risk-related data.
More Accurate, Optimized Information Regarding Risk
An IRM ensures that the organization’s risk and insurance data is accurate/reliable by providing a consistent, centrally-managed platform for the storage and analysis of enterprise risk. Users and dependent systems can reliably draw from this single source of truth; additionally, deeper insights and validation controls can be created from the converged information store. For example, a firm may be able to identify gaps or duplications in its insurance coverage. An IRM also may incorporate external information/data feeds for creating deeper insights, more powerful analyses, and at the end of the day—better managerial and strategic decision-making processes for reducing the organization’s risk. With access to these data points and insights, firms are also well-positioned to negotiate more comprehensive coverage and attractive premiums with their insurance providers.
Improved Security and Compliance
With data breaches at an all-time high, security should be a top-of-mind issue for enterprises across all industries; in parallel, firms should also be mindful of the increasingly stringent requirements around data security/privacy and the penalties/fines for non-compliance. Data residing in disparate locations and/or with third parties make it difficult for firms to ascertain whether their data is up-to-date, accurate, and secure. An IRM eliminates these issues and allows organizations to meet data/security compliance requirements via a consolidated platform.
More Convenience and Speed
Today’s organizations require the tools to analyze and react at the speed of information; to this end, an IRM enables firms to access all their risk data conveniently and quickly, as well as define/implement/measure metrics for improving data quality strategies and risk mitigation tactics. In turn, value is manifested downstream in the timely delivery of data, services, and products to the firm’s customers.
Enhanced Data Access Capabilities
An IRM solution allows firms to easily access their risk information across different domains when it’s needed. For example, users may need to analyze historical data related to insurance management processes (e.g., claims records, settlements/payments). An IRM solution provides them with the ability to access this data on-demand, as well as recover from business continuity issues (e.g., work disruptions) and local security incidents.
Automated Financial Capabilities for Quantifying Risk
IRM solutions can help streamline the consolidation/translation of risk information—both during ingestion and presentation—for supporting financial processes such as processing claims payments and auditing/reconciling amounts. Additionally, organizations are increasingly multi-national, with both customers and workers distributed remotely across the globe—a competent IRM solution easily supports multilingual, multi-currency operations.
Adopting an IRM Solution
In short, organizations that adopt an IRM approach/solution have more clarity in regards to how different facets of risk impact their strategic and operational objectives. This is a crucial requirement for businesses moving into the new risk landscape of 2022 and beyond. For more information regarding IRM solutions, please visit Ventiv Technology today.
