It’s hard to think of a business process that hasn’t been simplified or improved by a SaaS platform, until now: Risk Management.

To keep a successful business of any size operating smoothly, it is essential to manage the risks that could easily derail it: financial; health & safety; reputation; data; intellectual property; regulatory; HR; the list is endless. So it never ceases to amaze that such an essential business process is still typically run on a plethora of spreadsheets and documents, or worse still in the head of the business owner.

Here at TrackMyRisks we are creating a simple, secure, always-on, risk management platform, where all your risks are tracked in one place. And, most importantly, they’re not sitting on a server in the corner of an office, but securely hosted and backed up in the cloud.

To be truly effective, risk management requires complex data, insights, monitoring, collaboration & reporting, which in the past put it beyond the reach of most businesses. This is no longer the case with the launch of TrackMyRisks, designed for the needs of every business regardless of size or sector.

The chaos caused by the recent WannaCry ransomware attack is a clear example of ineffective risk management. Here are some of the ways TrackMyRisks would have protected a business from such a cyber attack:

1. Real-time reports to senior management to highlight ‘cyber’ risks and gaps in their cover – this would have helped them address weak spots before the ransomware was released;
2. Automatically spotting holes and alerting users, via the platform, that they may be vulnerable – would have prompted more organisations to patch their systems before the ransomware was released;
3. Early warning system, via the platform, to alert all users that the ransomware had been released – would have raised the alert state to reduce infections;
4. Creating plans, before the attack, for how to deal with a systems failure – would have reduced the amount of downtime for essential services;
5. Emergency plans centrally available in the TrackMyRisks document manager from any device – would have reduced the time to recover since documents were not stored on infected networks;
6. Risk transfer to insurance as a system suggested mitigation  – low cost insurance to cover the cost of expert assistance and expenses in the event of a cyber attack.

Any of these risk management items on their own could have significantly reduced the severity of the WannaCry attack. But put them all together and it probably wouldn’t have made the news at all, let alone cause untold chaos across public and private sector organisations, worldwide!

Risk management may be front of mind right now, but very soon it will be overtaken in the news cycle, until the next disaster strikes. Technology is a great enabler, but as we have seen it is also one of the greatest risks to our businesses. We have to be prepared, which means getting better at planning for the unexpected. Get to know your business risks better – right now. If the risk is totally unnecessary or can be easily reduced then do it.

That’s why successful businesses are choosing TrackMyRisks to keep one step ahead and safeguard their future.