Ventiv Technology

RISK MANAGEMENT Technology | | 2 Follow us @SRAsia_editor There was no system off-the-shelf that was a perfect fit for us and every customer is going to find the same thing – we're not that special, we had our own unique requirements and so does everyone else" Mark Wilson Seven West Media perfect fit for us and every customer is going to find the same thing – we're not that special, we had our own unique requirements and so does everyone else." But Wilson warns against purchasing a completely customised solution. "It sounds good upfront but every time you want to maintain the system and do an upgrade, you end up with extra complications and testing because you've got a bolt-on piece of custom functionality," he says. Wilson says the top three things he looked for in a new technology system were: the ability to integrate risk management processes; the ability to configure a system for the company's requirements; and to produce meaningful reports for business heads and the board. Telstra chief risk o"cer Kate Hughes also struggled to find her ideal system. "The capacity to put in a really simple tool that enables you to link a risk to a control to an action, and in some cases to a dollar value so you can figure out if you should insure it or not, is really hard," she said. Telstra is currently implementing a new system as part of its transformation from a traditional telecommunications business into a technology firm. "Our implementation won't be short and it won't be simple. In an organisation of our size that's a fair call, but by the same token, I don't think these things should take multi-year implementations and that's e!ectively what we're staring down." Hughes would like to see systems become more intuitive and link together potential risk events in di!erent parts of the business. And JLT Risk Consulting Asia director Craig Paterson agrees the technology needs to improve, albeit with a caveat. "People use their phone as a baseline as what to expect [from all technology], which is probably not reasonable," he says. "There are billions of people buying mobile phone technology, but there aren't billions of people buying risk management software. So [RMIS] is always going to be one step behind your phone." In saying that, Paterson says he "can't understand how risk and insurance managers can remotely try to live without having a software platform to do their job". "It's a bit like having your finance management system: you can see exactly, at that date, in your system, how much money do we have in the bank. An insurance and risk management system can tell you at any date what are your biggest risks, what insurances do you have in place [and] what is your claims experience," he says. Uniting Church in Australia head of risk and insurance Christian Mathis says an RMIS was crucial in securing a discount for the group's property insurance (see page 3). The ability of a RMIS to e"ciently aggregate risk data is one of its key benefits, agrees Marsh South East Asia managing director Douglas Ure. But he says the systems aren't for everyone. "I see so many risk managers that try to cut corners because they've got a certain target for getting a system in place, or they've got a budget to stick to. To some extent, if the budget is relatively small, then you may find you're better o! with Excel spreadsheets because the pain and ine"ciencies being caused by selecting the wrong or cheapest system can damage some of the great work that risk managers may have done to put in place risk management frameworks and develop a risk-aware culture," Ure says. Technology Risk management information system Governance, risk and compliance system Enterprise risk management system Also known as… RMIS GRC ERM What it does A centralised system that allows the manipulation of claims, loss control and other types of data to assist in risk management decision-making A tool for firms that operate in highly regulated industries to keep on top of legal obligations A platform that enables risk managers to identify, assess, quantify, manage and monitor their enterprise risks Key benefit for risk and insurance managers Potential savings to the total cost of risk, owing to more granular claims and risk data to present to the insurance market Proactively mitigate the risk of a regulatory breach Aggregation and automation of enterprise risk management activities What risk managers say "Information and data, providing it's complete and accurate, is absolutely the lifeblood of making [risk management] decisions. You can't make decisions in terms of risk transfer, strategy and service provider unless you have that information." Uniting Church in Australia head of risk and insurance Christian Mathis "It gives us the early warning signals that we didn't have before." EnergyAustralia chief risk officer Brad Tymmons "We've been able to spend more time doing what we are paid to do as risk managers, as opposed to copying and pasting and managing excel spreadsheets, which isn't a good use of anyone's time." Singapore-based risk manager SO MANY CHOICES: TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS FOR RISK MANAGERS

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