Creating a Risk Management Plan to Ensure Business Continuity

Creating a risk management plan for business continuity is necessary to ensure that management is making the right decision. Often there are business plans that seem like a fantastic idea but during execution unexpected problems occur which end up damaging the future of the business. Large organizations have dedicated risk personnel whose sole focus is on potential risks, but smaller organizations also need to plan for risk. Larger organizations are generally capable of surviving a small problem, but a similar problem can end up bringing a small business to a standstill. Thus, it is even more important for small businesses to plan for risk than it is for larger organizations.

How to Prepare a Risk Management Plan

Preparing a risk management plan requires data, information, foresight, and insights.

Step 1: Define the Scope of the Project

The first step in determining potential risks is to define the scope of the project you are undertaking. The scope is necessary because it allows us to assess what risks may end up affecting the project. Projects with a small scope are naturally low risk, while projects which are larger involve many different risks.

Step 2: Identify Partners and Stakeholders

When you create a risk management plan you aren’t just focusing on the risks that your activities may create but the overall risks the project will be exposed to. To determine risks that are not related to your own work or department it is necessary to get in touch with partners and stakeholders involved in the project. If your business is organizing an event, then you should include the event planners, the venue’s managers, any businesses that will be a part of the event, and in some cases even local authorities.

Step 3: Identify Risks Related to Your Business

Once you have determined the scope of the project and the business processes involved you will be able to determine the risks that need to be accounted for. If you have a risk management solution in place this step will take no time. Risk management software solutions have all the known risks mapped within the system already, so it will take just a few clicks to get all the date regarding these risks. If you do not have a GRC risk management solution implemented, then this step is a bit more complicated.

You will need to get in touch with all the departments involved in the project and ask them for risk information. You will need to collect all the risk data from different departments to determine all the risks that need to be managed.

Step 4: Identify External Risks

You will need to determine the risks that other stakeholders, locations, and external factors will introduce into the project. If you are arranging an event at a venue, you need to get in touch with the compliance risk managers to ask them about potential risks. Is there a fire hazard involved, does the place have enough electricity outlets to support all the devices you will need to plug in, is there enough parking for attendees – these are just some of the risks that may occur.

It is important to get in touch with all stakeholders and partners – they can tell you about risks which you may not have considered. Projects with larger scopes need input from local authorities too. If there is a major event being planned, it can cause traffic or fire safety issues. A few simple calls to the authorities and a meeting or two will allow you to plan for any such problems and ensure that your event goes smoothly.

Step 5: Identify the Actions that Need to be Taken for Every Risk

Different risks need different actions to be taken. If there is a fire safety risk, it is important eliminate it as much as possible. There are risks which are inevitable and cannot be eliminated. If there is a risk of heavy torrential downpour or a snowstorm, the only action that can be taken would be to delay the project. Not every risk can be eliminated, but your organization should have a plan that can be put into the action if the risk is realized.

GRC Makes Risk Planning Easier

There are many different components of risk management plan in every project your business undertakes. The best way to continuously manage all risks that affect the organization you need GRC solutions. Our Predict360 Risk Management Solution has been designed specifically for small to medium businesses. Get in touch with our team or visit the product page for more information on how Predict360 can help your organization.

About the Company

360factors, Inc. (Austin, TX) helps companies improve business performance by reducing risk and ensuring compliance. Predict360, its flagship software product, vertically integrates regulations and requirements, policies and procedures management, risks and controls, audit management and inspections, and on-line training and qualifications, in a single cloud-based platform based on artificial intelligence.

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