Shahran Sayyed is a geology graduate, who changed his career by pursuing a risk management course. Shahran pursued a post-graduate diploma in risk management (PGDRM) course from GRMI. He writes about the importance of risk professionals in an organization in the article below. 

Importance of Risk Professionals in the organisations

By Shahran Sayyed

PGDRM Jan’20-21

Over the last few years, organizations have started giving a lot of importance to risk professionals. Earlier the risk professionals used to simply purchase insurance to transfer losses to other companies. Now, the duties of risk professionals have changed and they are expected to monitor the risk environment, identify and manage risks.  They need to develop and implement proactive strategies to prevent risks from occurring or try to minimize the impact of the risk. The importance of Chief Risk Officers is becoming increasingly common in the top leadership positions. with the increase in demand for risk professionals, the demand for professional courses after graduation in risk management has also increased. 

Risk professionals remain updated to meet the needs of today’s rapidly changing risk environment in the organization. They help in risk forecasting, modelling, and data analytics. They help in performing trend analysis for the organization otherwise the organization may be facing the same risk again and again due to an unknown issue. They also have an up to date knowledge of technology which helps the organization to compete with competitors and innovate new processes.

 

Risk professionals also have an understanding of the environment in which their organization is working. They are constantly updated with changing laws and regulations which can act as a risk for the survival of the organization. The General Data Protection Regulation which came on May 25, 2018, imposed strict fines for those companies operating in the EU that fails to meet the standards of GDPR. Risk professionals can help in monitoring the changes due to GDPR and can act accordingly. They also help in tracking the behaviour of the competitors and trends related to the industry as opportunities or threats can arise at any moment.

 

Risk professionals try to explain the strategy with big benefits to the leaders of the organization and in a detailed way to the individual workers who will be making use of it in their process. They help in changing the mindset of the employees and make them recognize the value of risk management and how it can help in achieving the goal of the organization. A successful risk professional will take on activities they select and will be confident that their method will benefit the organization.

 

The risk environment is never stagnant. A risk professional may be handling a reputation crisis one day and the next day helping the organization to secure their data. Risk professionals are creative and flexible which helps in solving any problem that presents itself. They also help in implementing innovative ideas. In large and complex organizations, a crisis is difficult to predict. In such cases, the risk team can act quickly to handle many priorities and can reduce the impact of the risk and can prevent it from happening again.

 

Risk professionals help organizations to reposition themselves and to grow and survive in a turbulent environment. They know how to respond to situations in the most effective way and set some meaningful goals which can be achieved by the organization. A successful risk professional will know the strategies to implement, how to go with that strategy, and when to start the process.