As we transition to a new way of working, businesses across the globe are adapting and consolidating risk engineering strategies.

As we transition to a new way of working, businesses across the globe are adapting and consolidating risk engineering strategies. Only a year ago many considered financial and non-financial risks loosely connected, whereas today closer alignment is one of the key considerations in holistic risk engineering strategies. Particularly as the world rapidly entered lockdown and are now preparing for the new way of working.

An essential element in understanding future non-financial or operational risks, is having the right data available. Armed with information business leaders can be make smarter decisions on processes, change management and improvement to critical services and infrastructure. Noteworthy here are the risks associated with infrastructure; the new norm being remote working across disparate global networks with enhanced risks concerning data security, cyber risk and connectivity, as the world now functions predominantly in an online environment.

The impact on Insurers today are unprecedented and enormous. Not only must they quickly understand these new risks, they must also adapt underwriting strategies and improve policies to meet these rapidly changing customer requirements.

In order to meet these challenges, assessors and underwriters need to have all the data available to make accurate decisions on risk. Additionally, this data must be collected quickly and efficiently. Only 4 months ago this seemed a relatively easy task, for operational risk assessments, as most employees were based in a few locations requiring fewer data collection points. Today this task is more complex, with the majority of employees working in multiple locations, particularly in the home environment. As businesses better understand work productivity based on mixed employee locations, insurers must understand the new risk complexities to adequately protect their clients.

Data Capture:

Here is where Surveys provide incredible value. These essential flexible tools enable businesses and insurers to obtain a comprehensive unified data source ready for collation into reporting, analysis, future modelling and risk mitigation recommendations. Surveys can be customised, rapidly deployed and provide immediate notification in delayed responses. Surveys can include the following:

Questionnaire builders to create business specific surveys and self-assessments
Comprehensive survey workflows ensuring consistent and timely data capture
Self-Assessments for wide distribution across multiple locations
Video for live video streaming
Data Unification:

Digitally captured data is automatically integrated into a single source of truth. This data can also be connected to external data services, which can include many business specific data points. APIs provide easy consolidation of data from multiple sources, such as survey data (see above) or Data-as-a Service including property, financial, credit, cyber and legal data. Having wider range of data sources available for analysis provides greater insights and provides a solid base for risk assessments.

Data Analysis:

Business intelligence is only as good as the data it is analysing. Unified data (see above) not only provides real time insights, it also enables custom data segmentation and reporting as risk engineers and underwriters require to make more accurate decisions on risk appetite and policy preparation to support client requests and needs.

Risk Mitigation Recommendations:

Artificial intelligence provides benchmarking capabilities to immediately point out any deviances, thereby providing immediate alerts to underwriters and risk engineers. This provides opportunities to quickly complete an assessment or identify the need for further investigation. Additional machine learning functionality will highlight recommendations based on current and historical data to offer immediate steps to be taken to mitigate risk further, thereby optimising insurance products for customers.

Future Modelling:

Predictive analytics can provide deep insights into future product offers for insurers. Understanding which potential risks will be of significance in future years will enable risk managers, underwriters, brokers, MGAs and insurers to adapt future products in anticipation of customer requirements. As we’ve learned this year future modelling cannot provide a 100% accurate picture of potential future risks, however it does provide foundations enabling insurers to rapidly adjust to a changing world.

These fundamental steps are critical for clients and insurers in “knowing what you are you doing” in terms of risk management, by understanding and taking proactive steps to mitigate risk. Market leading digital risk management solutions from trusted providers will drive profitability, increase customer acquisition & retention in this ever-changing environment.