ENHANCING

ORGANIZATIONAL
RESILIENCE THROUGH
INTEGRATED RISK
MANAGEMENT
SYNERGI LIFE Enhancing organizational resilience through integrated risk management

Risk management leaders are confronting unprecedented
challenges, navigating a landscape that demands not only
risk prevention and reduction but also compliance with a
widening array of regulations spanning employment to
environmental concerns. Beyond managing traditional
operational risks, they must now navigate new and complex
areas such as climate change, cybersecurity, and reputational
risks, which pose significant threats to organizational health.
In this dynamic environment, the ability to adopt a holistic
perspective on the diverse risk landscape is paramount. This
holistic view empowers leaders to effectively prioritise and
align efforts across the entire organisation.
A comprehensive survey of risk management professionals
conducted by Verdantix has unveiled various challenges
organizations face, with Climate risk to physical assets,
Cybersecurity, and Worker health and safety emerging
as the top three concerns. The driving market dynamics
behind these risks include a complex geopolitical multi-
crisis scenario, shifting geopolitical standings, economic
uncertainty, globalization, and supply chain fragility. In
response to these formidable forces, organizations are
compelled to reevaluate their approach to risk management,
necessitating a more dynamic and adaptive strategy1.

Top risks in 2023

In the last 12 months, how material have the following risks been for your firm?

In light of these evolving challenges, embracing a comprehensive perspective becomes essential to navigate the complex risk
landscape and ensure organizational resilience in the face of uncertainty.

1
Verdantix, Strategic Focus: Top 5 Risk Megatrends for 2024, December 2023

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SYNERGI LIFE Enhancing organizational resilience through integrated risk management

In line with successful business operations or change management initiatives, an effective risk management solution is woven
with the people, process, and technology framework. This methodology establishes a balance that propels decisive actions,
empowering organisations to set and attain their risk objectives. Each component has a critical role in the identification,
assessment and mitigation of risks in an organisation, and must function collaboratively for optimal performance.

The people factor

The People factor extends beyond the risk management team at an organisation, it also encompasses the culture and
communication vital for a successful risk management system. Fostering a risk-aware culture encourages employees to
comprehend and embrace the significance of risk management, leading to increased reporting and fear of repercussions.

Proficient domain experts are instrumental in identifying risks, providing valuable insights for a precise understanding of potential
threats. Effective communication ensures that risk-related information is easily accessible to all stakeholders, fostering a culture of
risk awareness among employees. However, communication from domain experts or risk leaders alone is not enough. It’s crucial
that the established risk management strategy, along with its tools and processes, is fully embraced by all members of the work-
force. Providing consistent training and ensuring accessibility to all employees facing risks on the job site helps them feel confident
in reporting risks accurately and promptly. Only then can leadership access enough data to make informed decisions.

Streamlined processes

Processes inject structure, consistency, and efficiency into risk identification, assessment, and mitigation. Well-defined
processes are essential to evaluate the likelihood and impact of risks on organizational objectives.

Processes are a key method to help carry out the policies, procedures, and protocols that are developed to support a risk
management framework. Monitoring and reporting process outcomes, help maintain alignment with system strategy and KPIs.
These processes help to define the workflows that provide structure to an organisation’s risk operations.
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SYNERGI LIFE Enhancing organizational resilience through integrated risk management
Leveraging technology
Integrated IT systems are indispensable for executing a
robust risk management system, facilitating the collection and
analysis of large datasets. Technology enables organizations
to adopt a proactive risk management approach, leveraging
predictive modeling to safeguard against future threats. By
analyzing risk trends, teams can better predict a possible
hazard and react before it occurs.
Risk management tools automate processes, reduce the risk
of human error, enhance efficiency, and introduce boundaries
to ensure compliance with data privacy regulations.
DNV’s ISRS (International Safety Rating System)2 and ISRS 93
are frameworks that are used to assess and improve safety
management within organisations. These frameworks work as
an extension of the people, process, technology (PPT) frame-
work by providing a structured approach to evaluating and
enhancing safety performance across the three dimensions.
There are several benefits of applying ISRS to a risk
management system:
2
https://www.dnv.com/oilgas/international-sustainability-rating-system-isrs/
3
https://www.dnv.com/news/dnv-gl-launches-major-update-to-isrs-with-increased-scope-and-new-tools-to-measure-the-health-of-business
processes-145522
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Structured assessment – ISRS provides a structured frame-
work for assessing safety management systems. The focus on
safety management practices provides detailed criteria and
guidelines for evaluation.
Standardisation – ISRS and ISRS 9 are internationally
recognized standards for safety management and enable
organisations to benchmark their safety performance against
industry best practices while demonstrating compliance to
stakeholders.
Comprehensive approach – These frameworks include
aspects such as leadership commitment, risk assessment,
incident investigation, emergency preparedness and
employee engagement.
Drive continuous improvement – The ISRS frameworks
include a focus on driving continuous improvement in
safety performance and provide criteria to assess safety
management systems at different maturity levels.
Proven and refined – Over its 46-year history, the ISRS frame-
work has garnered recognition across multiple industries.
Continuously adapting, it addresses the evolving needs of
safety management across diverse sectors.
SYNERGI LIFE Enhancing organizational resilience through integrated risk management

The power of alignment

Alignment across people, processes, and technology is
imperative for a successful risk management system. A well-
designed process, when coupled with effective communication
and supported by technology, ensures that risks are
documented and impactful.
For example, a company can design well-thought-out
processes and workflows to support risk reporting, but
unless those processes have been successfully taught to and
adopted by the workforce, incidents will not be documented.
If the designed processes aren’t supported with data
collection and automation from risk management technology,
they’re much less likely to impact business objectives.
The alignment of these areas forms a cohesive and
integrated framework for constructing an efficient risk
management system. This alignment has several
advantages:

1.
Enhances the effectiveness of
3.
Fosters organizational resilience
risk management efforts

2.
Delivers the ability to prioritize risk management
4.
Contributes to higher system success rates
resources across the organisation

But this alignment may not be enough for a successful system alone, there are other pitfalls that teams need to remain
conscious of.

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SYNERGI LIFE Enhancing organizational resilience through integrated risk management

Common pitfalls to avoid Driving long-term success

1.
Misalignment of limitations and expectations
Successful risk management programs are designed for
endurance and continuous improvement. Embrace three key
principles:
Clearly establishing and communicating program expecta-
tions and limitations is critical to avoid costly mistakes, such as
resource misallocation and increased legal and financial risks. 1.
Be active

2.
Dwindling program engagement
Small daily habits can lead to significant impacts. Active
engagement helps identify risks earlier and enables a timely
response to emerging challenges.
Sustaining long-term engagement and fostering a proactive
risk culture requires continuous efforts, making risk manage-
ment a daily part of operations. A centralized risk register
is a great tool to align risk status and priorities, but it’s not
2.
Be transparent
valuable once outdated. Ensure stakeholders have access to the latest risk status and
progress against KPIs. Dashboards and automated reports

3.
Risk silos
and notifications build stakeholder trust and engagement and
build a risk-aware culture.

Communication or technology barriers within an organisa-

tion can lead to risk silos. For example, if different tools are
used to capture and manage risks in different departments or
3.
Drive progress
locations, an organisation loses the benefits of a holistic risk Progress is vital for organizational resilience and adaptability.
overview. Integrated risk management technology to identify The ability to assess and respond to new risks supports com-
trends and prioritize actions and a cross-department ap- pliance with regulations and fosters a proactive risk manage-
proach is essential to prevent risk silos and fuel organisational ment approach.
learning.

Synergi Life: Empowering proactive risk management

The creation of a central data pool enables risk alignment that extends beyond operational silos and enables an organisation to
react on priorities across the business, not limited to within a single risk category. Synergi Life is a flexible and scalable risk man-
agement tool that consolidates all risk data into a centralized location. Beyond data consolidation, it supports the rollout of new
processes and workflows, equipping organizations with the data needed to identify trends and evolve their risk management
approach from reactive to proactive.

Carsten Weid serves as the Head of Risk Management Advisory at DNV, where his team
collaborates closely with clients to help navigate the complexities of risk management
within an ever-evolving and high-risk industry. Carsten and his team both use and recommend
Synergi Life, particularly for clients seeking a robust tool to fortify and streamline the technical
aspects of their risk management program.

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ABOUT DNV
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in more than 100 countries. Through its broad experience and deep
expertise DNV advances safety and sustainable performance, sets industry
standards, and inspires and invents solutions.

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applications with focus on the energy, maritime and healthcare markets.
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assurance platform, we enable companies to digitize and manage business
critical activities in a sustainable, cost-efficient, safe and secure way.

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