Page 30 - Risk Management Bulletin April -June 2021

RMAI BULLETIN APRIL TO JUNE 2021

5 Risk Management Trends &

Priorities for 2021

2 020 has been a struggle for businesses. The presents a challenge for cyber security. For companies

that used to have centralised teams working in
plans put in place at the start of the year
centralised offices, this new way of working has
were quickly undone with the pandemic and
various lockdown restrictions across the
globe. As we look at 2021, what have we learned and presented challenges in the way that teams
communicate and gain access to the information they
what will be the priorities for risk managers? need, when they need it. That paper file in the office,
is it also available online? If it is now, is it secure and
1. Mitigating the long-term effects of COVID- only accessible to the people who need it?
19 on the supply chain
Clearly we can’t ignore the long-term impact of In June, GARTNER predicted a worldwide rise in
coronavirus. This will be top of mind for all businesses. security spend over the second half of 2020 despite
Even businesses less financially impacted by the virus businesses cutting costs. We expect this trend to rise
will be affected by any supply chain issues in a global into 2021, and risk managers should present their case
economy. for some of this funding to be spent on cloud and data
security in particular.

Risk managers in both public and private sector entities
will be prioritizing business continuity in 2021 and It’s not just your own systems that you should be
looking for how they can manage supply chain focusing on; consider who in your supply chain also has
challenges, such as longer lead times, reduced capacity access to your data and systems. Using a secure
or having to seek new suppliers. integrated risk management system to work with
suppliers, rather than sharing spreadsheets for
GEOSPATIAL ANALYTICS can be used to identify example, can help reduce the risk of breaches.
pandemic hotspots. Overlaid with other data, such as
local hospital information, testing kit availability, 3. Innovate to reduce insurance costs
vaccination roll out, and government restrictions, In 2021, insurance managers will continue to face
organizations can see how close they are to a pressure to reduce insurance premiums or at least
pandemic hotspot and build a picture of the potential battle against the rising prices. AON’S Q2 2020 GLOBAL
severity of the impact on them. INSURANCE MARKET INDEX found that premiums are
increasing across the global insurance market, with
While this can spot trends, it won’t solve the average rises between 11% and 30%. With a hard
challenges. Businesses can bounce back by innovating insurance market expecting to continue, risk managers
processes and being acutely aware of the impact of will need to reassess risk appetite and negotiate better
their new risk profile. This requires effective renewal terms with insurers, which means accurate
ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT (ERM) – and good and reliable data, presented in the best possible way
risk technology. to differentiate from others.

2. Build protection and resilience A typical FTSE 100 or 250 company operates a LEAN
COVID-19 has caused more people to work from home INSURANCE TEAM and may only have one risk
and more transactions taking place online. Cloud manager dedicated to insurance. Negotiating better
technology has increased in importance in 2020, which renewal terms requires complete, accurate data; in this

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