By Patrick O’Neill, Founder and President, Redhand Advisors
Too many risk managers are not maximizing the potential of their risk management information system (RMIS). In fact, over 50% of organizations say their use of risk technology is only moderately effective or worse; less than half say they utilize their RMIS well.
To take full advantage of all a RMIS has to offer, we need to ask: What’s causing companies to underutilize their systems? And, more importantly: What can we do about it?
Our 2023 RMIS Report revealed that companies are failing to fully utilize their RMIS for reasons like cost, lack of resources, and lack of training or knowledge of the system. As the business landscape gets more complex and risk gets harder to manage across business units, an efficient, effective and fully optimized RMIS is vital to an organization’s ability to both track and reduce risk.
6 strategies to fully optimize your RMIS
A RMIS is only as good as the effort and skillset of its users. Updates, improvements, and education are key to unlocking a system’s full potential, and organizations need to be ready to go all-in to see the best results. Here are the top six ways to get your company’s RMIS usage on track:
- Ensure the data is accurate.
Inaccurate data leads to false findings and misunderstandings about what is truly taking place in your business. Conduct an analysis of your company’s data to expose and correct any shortcomings and errors. Whether you’re failing to track certain types of claims or basing conclusions on misinterpreted outcomes, taking the time to step back and resolve data issues sets a strong foundation you can build on.
2. Tailor the RMIS to your business needs.
Don’t settle for a vendor’s canned solutions. Your system should be configured to first meet your company’s overall strategy, and then to support the processes that are aligned with these goals. If one organization has a strong safety culture, maybe their goal with their RMIS is to eliminate claims. This business could leverage the RMIS to understand where past claims originated from. Look at largest losses in the RMIS and seek to understand ways to ensure these don’t happen again. Where are the areas we should focus on? Look for ways your RMIS can shoulder more of the burden and ask: What are the processes we have in place that the system can support?
3. Regularly review and update the system.
Organizations constantly shift and pivot, and SaaS systems continually evolve as well. Proactive system maintenance and expansion to new and underutilized tools is key to an optimized RMIS. Ask at every opportunity: Are there new tools that can help us be more effective in managing our risks? How can we leverage them to be more efficient in our business?
Technology innovates at a rapid pace and recent progress in areas like advanced data analytics can help propel your business forward. Don’t get left behind — stay open, seek out new solutions, and keep current on new capabilities that can improve your business.
4. Train and support all RMIS users.
A RMIS can perform wonders in capable hands, but one of the top reasons risk managers cite they aren’t utilizing more of their systems’ capabilities is due to lack of training or knowledge of the system. Because of this, it’s imperative that training and support are available for everyone who uses the RMIS in your organization.
If you’re worried about finding the time to implement specialized training, there are lots of resources available. Most RMIS vendors have comprehensive libraries of recorded training videos and other resources that can be very useful to bring everyone up to speed.
5. Leverage reporting capabilities.
A RMIS is purpose-built to report findings in a digestible and actionable way. Real-time dashboards that collect and organize all your company’s data can empower you with answers to questions like: What are the top injuries taking place this year? What were our top losses last month?
Embrace your system’s greatest strength — reporting — to obtain swift, accurate, needle-moving insights.
6. Utilize your RMIS as a decision-making tool.
If your system is only used to track and model, you’re missing out on valuable tools that can help users make the right decisions as they progress through workflows. Here’s an example: If your organization triages claim assignments based on bandwidth, consider using your system’s tools to make this process more sophisticated and effective by assigning higher cost/probability outcome claims to the most experienced claims professionals instead. Now your RMIS is working for you, improving outcomes on these costlier claims as a part of its automated process.
You get what you give
Your RMIS can bring a great deal of value to your organization if you dedicate the time and energy required to optimize its efficiency and utilization. Download your own copy of the 2023 RMIS report to gain access to full-picture coverage that can help you make better technological decisions regarding risk management and more.
To learn how you can optimize your RMIS to best meet your business needs, schedule an inquiry call with Redhand Advisors.