Effective risk management often means thinking ahead and anticipating future risks, proactively rather than reactively, lessening risk impact when occurring. As organisations increasingly expect the unexpected and implement software solutions for critical event management at moment's notice, effective analysis of previous critical events strengthens organisations' risk comprehension and further management ability.
"Effective risk management means attempting to control, as much as possible, future outcomes by acting proactively rather than reactively. Therefore, effective risk management offers potential reducing both risk occurrence possibility and potential impact."
Risk is always present; it's organisational risk approaches and handling that matters. Below are five success steps for effective risk management.
1. Consider Communications
Harvard Business Review outlines modern risk communication complexities: "Communicating about uncertainty—called 'risk communications' in practice—has become one of the most important challenges faced by anyone conveying or consuming information."
Effective communications software enables organisations taking preventative risk approaches. Many software solutions enable location-based employee group creation and enrollment, streamlining communication processes and channeling messages to different locations, when risk profiles vary amongst operations.
When effective risk management comes, communication is key. Presidential speech writer and author James Humes states: "The art of communicating is leadership language." It's common for communication surrounding risk delivery as top-down initiatives.
2. Harness Data Feeds Capturing Risk Profiles
Data feeds are innovative risk prediction and anticipation solutions. Data feeds can inform employees of travel high-risk area risks, extreme weather instances, conflict and violent crime percentages and instances in defined locations. Possibilities enabled by data intelligence become increasingly sophisticated.
Aon states: "Many companies are incorporating data and analytics into business functions and realising returns—but few are putting data to work in risk management. But potential benefits—including more dynamic and strategic risk approach—are too big ignoring. Companies taking these steps now can help setting themselves up for both short-term and long-term value."
Data feeds are among the most important factors maintaining proactive rather reactive risk approaches. Having news and statistics on organisations' sides greatly helps anticipating how risk might need managing next.
3. Utilise Critical Event Management Platforms
When risks amount to full-blown critical events, critical event management platforms enable organisations immediately understanding people locations and safety status, maintaining control when unexpected happens. Two-way communication helps advising people on best action course when most needing protection.
4. Inform Strategy with Incident Dashboards and Analysis
Incident Dashboards enable organisations analysing historic risks and critical events for informing wider strategies for anticipating and managing future risk. Detailed post-critical event analysis ensures positive situations emerges from potentially unsettling circumstances. Organisations increasingly interpret previous event data and response for taking more proactive similar risk-based scenario addressing approaches going forward.
Amazon Web Services provides useful post-incident analysis five-step breakdown:
- Improve incident response
- Understand problem root causes
- Address root causes with deliverable action items
- Analyse incident impacts
- Capture and share organisational learnings
5. Respond to Changing Risk Understanding Nature
Post-pandemic, as hybrid working matures, organisations increasingly take more nuanced, holistic approaches understanding and managing risk. Risk increasingly accounts for high-risk events, poor home connectivity, mental health and employee wellbeing understanding, and additional cyber security threats from hybrid workforce remote servers. Essentially, risk could be anything impacting organisations' operational ability.
Takeaways
Track24 provides useful five-step guidance for modern era effective risk management. Discover how AtlasNXT, our single-solution safeguarding and communications platform, helps your organisation achieve effective risk management: https://atlasnxt.com
