Are companies changing strategic plans for risk?

 

An exterior influence that has the potential to harm the wider enterprise is never a good thing in business. Moreover, there can be critical oversights within the organization itself that may also need to be accounted for.

Consequently, having some plan in place to deal with risk is a must, but are enough companies aligning it with their strategic planning?

Fearing a lack of innovation

Research from Aon has tried to find an answer to that question, with its 2015 Global Risk Management Survey taking in the opinions of close to 1,500 global businesses, with many identifying new and threatening risks, but struggling to come up with a tangible way of dealing with them.

Perhaps surprisingly, one of the top risks flagged up by respondents was a failure to innovate. There’s a level of irony in that enterprises are worried about not having the most progressive practices in place, yet it is the implementation of those solutions that would see them best mitigate risk.

Confidence in the face of new risks

The research also goes on to explain that, despite there being new types of risks for businesses to navigate, such as cybercrime, overall confidence is relatively high. This is mainly due to the fact that any concerns around the global economic slowdown are subsiding.

However, risk remains worrying for enterprises, in general. The best way to limit its effects is via sound strategic management and a thorough understanding of where the threats are likely to come from.

In business, there will always be exterior pressure on the organization in the form of risk, while the internal need to succeed creates a wider environment that is perhaps not best prepared to deal with such issues.

Consequently, managing risk is something that has to be done tactfully, but aligning threat management within any strategic plan is certainly a starting point that businesses should consider.