4 Risk Management Tools You Need to Protect Your Organization

No matter what department you work in, managing risk is key to success. You can think up innovative projects, programs, and strategies, but if you don’t account for risks, you could waste a lot of time cleaning up issues. Luckily, with the right risk management tools (like those listed below), you can identify hazards and make plans for how to avoid or address them. Being proactive saves time, money, and stress, and lets you focus on your actual work.

Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form Template

While an employee conflict of interest (COI) might seem relatively innocent, it could put your organization at risk of fraud, non-compliance penalties, and employee misconduct. It’s almost impossible to completely avoid conflicts of interest, but knowing about them and keeping the employee as removed from the project as possible can reduce your risk.

One tool that can help? A conflict of interest disclosure form template. This form lets employees explain the type of COI they have, offer exact details on the situation, and requires a signature saying that they understand that breaching your organization’s conflict of interest policy is grounds for disciplinary action.

Employees should talk to their manager and submit the form to your HR or ethics staff if they have an actual, perceived, or potential COI. When an employee submits a COI disclosure, act ASAP. Even if it turns out to be avoidable or minor, you could save your company from bad press, a negative work environment, or losing assets to fraud.

Risk Matrix Template

Before starting a new project, whether it’s opening a new office, creating a new product, or launching an ad campaign, you need to assess its risk. Knowing potential hazards makes it easier to avoid them, or at least reduce the severity of the consequences if something does go wrong.

Assessing risk ahead of time can save money, reduce the odds that you’ll face a lawsuit or non-compliance penalties, and show the public that you’re an ethical, safe organization. To do this process effectively, use a risk matrix template like the one we offer below.

With a risk assessment matrix, you can identify hazards, calculate their likelihood, and determine the consequences. Once you’ve identified hazards, plug them into the matrix to see each one’s risk rating (low, medium, high, or extreme). Using a template for this process ensures you analyze risks consistently each time and removes the guesswork and subjectivity.

Vendor Risk Assessment Checklist

Another common risk organizations face is vendor risk. A thorough analysis of a vendor could reveal unstable, non-compliant, or even illegal operations. If you work with a company like this, your organization could also be on the hook for fines, penalties, and lawsuits, especially in the case of data breaches or fraud.

To save yourself from these negative consequences, conduct a complete vendor risk assessment before each new or renewed contract. You’ll need to score each type of possible risk for each service or product you’ll purchase from the vendor. Then, determine if the amount of risk is acceptable for your organization and make a risk management plan.

The easiest way to conduct a vendor risk assessment that’s thorough and consistent each time is to use a checklist, like our free one below. You’ll be less likely to forget a risk category and can rate risks the same way for each potential vendor.

Case Management Software

Identifying and managing risk is a big job. That’s why you need risk management tools to help, especially if your organization is large, operates in multiple states or countries, or is part of a high-risk industry.

Case management software like Case IQ reduces risk by storing all your investigation and case data in one secure, centralized location. No evidence or documentation will get lost in the shuffle, and you can see who worked on a case and when, thanks to time-stamped case logs. You’ll close cases more efficiently, reducing your risk of non-compliance penalties and employee lawsuits.

You can also analyze your historic case data with case management software. This makes it easy to visualize patterns, trends, and areas of risk that need attention. With just a few clicks, Case IQ’s BI tool shows you the people, places, and incident types that should be targeted with preventive actions.

Learn more about how case management software can help your organization in the video below.

What tools are used for risk management? A conflict of interest disclosure form, vendor risk assessment, risk matrix, and case management software can all help you not only identify hazards, but also determine their risk rating and make action plans for each in a consistent, effective way.