Startups might have heard the term ‘risk management solutions’ and said they don’t need those. It turns out many businesses actually needs those solutions.
Risk management, in layman’s terms, is the process of identifying, analyzing, and mitigating ‘risks’ to a company’s earnings. These risks can be anything from legal liabilities, business strategy errors, even accidents and natural disasters. In the digital world, risk management has also unfurled its wings to cover cybersecurity threats and data-related issues, with risk management information systems mitigating as many of these digital risks as possible.
Here are some basic risk management strategies and how they can help a company stay safe and operational:
Basic Risk Management Strategies
In general, risk management is entirely dependent on the type of industry your company is in, your financial assets, your business strategy, your IT infrastructure, and your employees, among other things. However, most risk management strategies rely on a few basic processes, which include the following:
Establishing Context
One of the first steps to a successful risk management strategy is to establish context; that is, figuring out where a company is at financially and what criteria will be used to evaluate the kind of risks the company might be open to.
Identifying Risks
Once the context of the company has been established, the risk manager can now figure out the most likely risks that the company might face, as well as the influences each risk can have over the company as a whole.
Analyzing the Risks
Next, the risk manager will analyze the risk and determine key factors about them, such as the probability of occurrence, as well as their far-reaching consequences it will have on existing projects and programs should it happen to the company.
Assessing the Risk
Once the risk has been identified and analyzed, the risk manager works with the company to figure out whether the parameters and consequences of particular risk are acceptable and whether they are willing to power through with a specific strategy even with that risk hanging over their head.
Mitigating the Risk
Once the company has decided to push forward with something regardless of the risk, then the risk manager will work on creating plans and processes to mitigate the effects of the risk and to stop it from spiraling out of control. It’s also the time for the risk manager to develop tactics and contingency plans should the risk become too big.
Why Risk Management is Important
Risk management might sound like a frivolous expense, but don’t be fooled: it is essential in creating a stable business space for your company, not to mention creating safety nets for your company to fall back on should the risks outweigh the benefits.
Risk management also protects employees: by helping companies figure out an approximate budget of revenue vs. losses due to certain risks, it allows them to create financial contingency plans for their employees should a situation go south. In a way, risk management helps companies peek into their short-term future, establish the best way moving forward, and have a plan should things don’t go the way they want.
