This supplement is an independent publication from Raconteur MediaMarch 10 2009
ENTERPRISE RISK &CONTINUITY PLANNING
ENTERPRISE RISK &CONTINUITY PLANNING
Taking a more
holistic approach
World recession has brought focus on corporate riskand resilience. How far have risk and continuity man-agement practices progressed to meet the challenge?Sue Copeman writes.The need for effective risk manage-ment today has never been clearer,according to Martin Metcalf, chiefexecutive officer, Strategic Thought.He sees risk as “anything that couldnegatively impact the ability of anorganisation to deliver on its obliga-tions and forecasts.”He adds: “There is a growingdemand from shareholders, regula-tors, credit agencies and customers inthe private sector and citizens, tax-payers and government in the publicsector, for transparency and evidenceof strong risk management. There aresimilar calls to identify and make themost of every opportunity - to max-imise the upside to gain more businessor deliver best value to citizens.”Is this demand being met? Manybelieve that the development of enter-prise risk management (ERM) still hassome way to go to meet this goal. Rupert Chapman, senior consultantin IT solutions and infrastructurepractice, PA Consulting Group, con-siders that the implementation ofERM has been patchy. “Risk functionshave tended to operate in silos. Func-tions such as business continuity plan-ning, disaster recovery and opera-tional risk do sometimes come togeth-er but often they manage to form larg-er silos rather than develop a broadapproach to managing risk across thewhole enterprise,” he says. Matthew Bates, managing directorof risk management Heath Lambert, isalso not convinced that many organi-sations have embraced ERM. “It’salmost certainly on most board agen-das but it’s still evolving,” he says.“Sometimes organisations find it diffi-cult to identify what ERM means tothem and to perceive value. Obviouslyat the moment there are conflictingpriorities,” explains Bates. He believes most organisations viewbusiness continuity planning as offer-ing better value. “The plan may notalways be fully documented but that isnot a problem if an organisation isfairly nimble and can respond in apositive way,” says Bates.Chris Lajtha, principal of Paris-based ADAGEO, warns that a com-Continued on page 3Management on trialFalling profits and forced redundancies couldbring more claims against directors. But thereare some precautions available.More pervasive integration of risk and continuity planning can provide a resilient platform for security and growth.page 6Hero to villain overnightSome risks can damage brand or reputation in aflash. Matching performance to promises andreacting quickly to threats are crucial.page 10Public sector pressureTransformation in the public sector is adding toexisting risk management challenges with reces-sion contributing more pressure. page 14