5 Challenges in Implementing Risk Management Software (RMS)

Risk management is an important function of any businesses. In order to manage risk, companies are relying on risk management software. It plays a vital role in the growth of the company by minimizing business risk. Utilizing statistical and analytical methods, risk software provides insight into a company’s liability. Implemented a risk management system (RMS) is not without challenges, below are five potential issues you may face:

Integration costs:

Risk management software can impose additional expenses on your business. The price of software can range drastically depending on how the contract is structured. Generally speaking $2,000 per user, excluding maintenance or support costs is expected. Costs can rise well beyond that if additional features outside the scope are requested. Despite that, these extra costs should not be dismissed. Due to each businesses unique requirements, these modules or features potentially could satisfy the needs of the organization and further limit liability.

Apart from aforementioned expenditure, additional expenses may be incurred. Implementation costs such as; training, data importation, and hardware improvements would all add to the price. These costs, of course, are borne only at the initial stages of usage. During the lifecycle of a contract costs will arise such as; yearly maintenance, bugs fixes, and system updates. Keep in mind this will vary depending on how your vendor has structured the deal. In some cases these might be no additional costs.

Training:

RMS interfaces contain complex tools in which employees will require extensive training. Companies with limited resources attempt to work around these expenses by using the trial and error method to learn the product. While this may seem cost efficient at first, the long term expense of not knowing full functionality of a RMS will outweigh any short term gains.

Training reduces time spent and ultimately increases productivity. Training decreases an employee learning curve and makes them less likely to misinterpret system generated data.

Getting your employees to buy into a new system:

We are all creatures of habit. In some cases companies have been using a legacy or outdated system (Microsoft Excel) with 1,000’s of records over the course of many years. Getting your team to buy into a new system can take time and patience. It can be difficult to adopt a new risk management system. Even though employees may exhibit hesitation about a new software program, they need to understand the benefits the business will receive by using one. This is where executive leadership needs to step up. The trainer can only lead them to water, not force them to drink from it. With adequate training and education by internal managers, RMS implementation has the ability to save companies of all sizes substantial amounts of revenue.

User experience:

Not all aspects of risk management software possess the characteristic of user-friendliness. Each system has their own unique interface and tools. As long as the software contains the ability for customization, users should be able to navigate points of pain.

Technical and user errors:

Finally, if data input is incorrect due to inexperience or hardware limitations your company will face additional risk related issues. When implementing a RMS, make sure you have the appreciate hardware to support it and a staff aware of the ramifications of incorrect data input. If web applications fail due to server or connection issues, this will also lead to harming your company’s bottom line.

Although these challenges may seem daunting at first, putting in the time and effort to implement a system can save a company revenue in a short period of time.