Integrated Risk Management (IRM) is a comprehensive approach that organisations use to identify, assess, prioritise, and manage risks across all aspects of their operations. It involves integrating risk management processes and techniques into various functions and levels of an organisation to create a unified risk management process.

An integrated risk management tool is software designed to facilitate the implementation of IRM process by providing a centralised platform for all employees to feed into the risk management programme and carry out risk related tasks and actions – creating invaluable insights for risk teams and the board.

When selecting an integrated risk management software vendor, firms must think about which staff and teams will be using the tool and what data outputs they need to extract.

When scoping out requirements for integrated risk management solutions firms must consider:

• Are there any risk related regulations that you must comply with that will affect how you structure your integrated risk management programme?
• Which IRM framework will you use to rate and categorise risk.
• Can the integrated risk management tool be customized to meet any bespoke company requirements?
• Can the integrated risk management tool offer further functionality to grow with you as your organisation expands?
• What information security and data protection measures protection does the integrated risk management tool have?
• Does the integrated risk management platform link to your other systems and data sources via API Integrations to ensure a single source of truth for risk data?
• Who needs to access the integrated risk management application and what data will they input and what data do they need to view and report on from the tool?

The benefits of utilizing an integrated risk management platform include:

• Less time spent on risk management reporting and administrative tasks and more time spent on risk mitigation and corrective actions.
• Integrated risk management software provides a holistic view of risk across the whole organisation.
• Integrated risk management tools enable the entire enterprise to feed into the risk management process as part of everyday operations – creating comprehensive risk data to support data-backed decision-making.
• Integrated risk management platforms generate better visibility of an organisations risk profile – providing an consolidated view of exposure.
• Using integrated risk management services results in a reduction in risk monitoring and reporting costs.
• Integrated risk management platforms enhance an organisations risk management approach, by enabling companies to link risk management to strategic objectives and enterprise performance. 
• Integrated risk management tools drive a risk aware culture as all employees can interact with the risk management program as part of their daily role though simple tasks like risk assessments, questionnaires, surveys, and checks. This data provides a complete picture of risk exposure for leadership teams.
• Firms can align their risk management strategy with their organisational strategy to enable them to take risks that will help to achieve their strategic goals.

• Choose an integrated risk management tool that is easily configurable in-house as it will eliminate expensive external configuration costs from the vendor.
• Choose integrated risk management software with endless risk registers, types, and categories for an effective integrated risk management approach.
• Select an integrated risk management reporting tool that offers instant reports and live dashboards that can be customised to suit any internal bespoke requirements.
• Select a risk management software solution that integrates with your other systems via APIs to ensure a single source of truth for your risk data for an effective IRM approach.
• Look for reliable integrated risk management tools that offers other GRC functionality like governance, compliance, incident reporting, and ESG – it is more efficient to manage these functions in the same risk management tool and integrate the data for enhanced reporting. 
• Look for an integrated risk management tool that offers third party risk management and vendor risk management enabling suppliers to carry out vendor risk assessments online via an external portal. Internal risk teams can build vendor profiles and score carding and formalise the onboarding and offboarding process.
• Select an integrated risk management platform that offers cyber risk management and cybersecurity incident reporting to capture the digital aspects of risk management.
• Choose an IRM tool from a top integrated risk management vendor that has great customer reviews and is highly rated by Forrester analysts. 
• The best integrated risk management tools are cloud-based SaaS platforms that can be accessed online. This ensures clients always get access to new releases and features introduced by the GRC platform vendor.

• Poor quality risk management data housed in spreadsheets due to a lack of data governance rules.
• Managing risk data across various forms, spreadsheets, emails and databases leads to inaccuracies and data entry errors.
• Those who don’t use a risk management system end up with disparate IRM data located in multiple spreadsheets – creating siloed risk data, and an inconsistent risk framework that results in inaccurate risk reporting outputs. 
• Relying on manual, unautomated processes slows down the risk escalation and risk remediation process.
• A lack of integration between data sources makes it difficult to link risks to the most relevant controls in the control library.
• When organisations don’t use a top risk management tool, they are unable to compare risk across different sites, departments, and countries due to disparate data and inconsistent risk frameworks.
• If firms are not using a SaaS web risk management tool, the platform won’t receive regular patch updates and releases from the GRC software vendor, meaning the platform could become outdated or lack the latest functionality.

Access our online calculator tool to find out how much you could save in terms of cost and hours spent on managing risks if you were to move to an integrated risk management platform. Simply complete the relevant details about how you currently manage risk in your organisation and our ROI calculator will provide high level estimates on the potential time and money you could save by implementing an integrated risk management tool.

Access our Integrated Risk Management Software ROI Calculator