Risk management function under-utilised: Marsh

While risk management is playing a more strategic role within organisations than ever before, many are not using the full potential of the function, according to a new report published by Marsh and RIMS.

“There is little doubt that risk management has evolved over the past 10 years into a role that is much more aligned to an organisation’s strategic planning,” said Carol Fox, director of the strategic and enterprise risk practice at RIMS. “While this evolution is encouraging there always is more to do and additional opportunities to be uncovered and seized.”

For example, one way organizations can more effectively use the risk management department to its fullest potential is through the deeper use of analytics, the report notes.

Another way to more fully engage risk management is for risk professionals to act as “risk knowledge centers,” providing an “omniscient” view of how risks impact their organizations. This idea was advanced by various focus groups comprised of risk executives from numerous sectors, who contributed to the survey. One director of risk at a major business-to-business service organisation said that serving as a sought-after, centralized resource for insights has led the organization to embrace the risk management function “rather than see it as ‘sales suppressors’.”