A recent post by Katie Dwyer on riskandinsurance.com details the trends changing the risk environment today. For businesses, it is now a question of when, rather than if, there will be a significant disruption that in a worst case scenario could threaten an entity's survival. Leaders need to ask themselves if their business continuity and disaster recovery plans are still relevant.
Dwyer identifies four key trends, and response strategies are needed for each.
- Intensified natural catastrophes
- Global warming has contributed to more frequent and severe storms. Hurricanes, floods, wildfires and tornadoes do more damage than cyber events to computer systems. To maintain both operations and information technology, businesses need resiliency and backup systems. Part of the backup is business interruption for both "brick and mortar" and online operations.
- Cyber crime
- Advances in technology and global inter-connectivity have created more opportunities for cyber criminals. Businesses need to enhance their cybersecurity practices and include crime in their Cyber policies.
- Reputation risk
- Poor response to a negative event can result in as much as a 30% drop in a company's value. On the other hand, a clear and consistent response backed by positive action can mitigate the damage. Crisis management and reputation coverages are available, but companies need to have a good communications strategy.
- Interdependency
- Globalization has linked companies and countries together. A loss to a partner, supplier or key customer can hurt a business. Dependent business interruption - on a worldwide basis if necessary - should be part of a company's insurance program.
To learn more about these 4 trends in Risk and response or about other emerging trends in the marketplace, schedule a call with one of our Risk Management experts when it's convenient for you.