What is important to consider when bringing together critical ESG and risk management processes on the same platform? Here, Max Kollberg, Product Growth Manager for GRC at Stratsys, talks about the benefits of using one system support for both risk management and ESG risks, and how to get started in the best way.
Who needs a system support? Is Excel not enough?
As the work, and thus the need, for structured risk management work increases - so does the need for system support. What your company needs depends, among other things, on the number of employees, type of business, ambitions and requirements of the organization. With high demands and ambitions and a larger workforce where many people need to be involved in the work, more than Excel is needed. As there is no traceability in Excel, it is not completely reliable in handling sensitive information, and it is therefore easy to accidentally delete or change data without being detected.Factors to consider when purchasing a support system
If your company doesn't have an ERP system today - start by defining the need for a system and analyze your company's requirements and available options to make the best decision. Study your own process, define what it would cost to implement a system, and plan for the change. A system support facilitates the whole risk management process, but implementing a new solution can be challenging. If employees are accustomed to Excel, a new system can be tough, and training will probably be needed.
To make the transition as smooth as possible, choose a user-friendly system with the ability to scale up and down. Ask the supplier:
- Is it possible to adapt the system to your own process?
- Is it a scalable solution based on users, roles and needs?
- Is there access to consulting support and training for users?
If the company is going to upgrade from Excel to a system support, it is also important to remember that the supplier will manage all information and data, and much will be placed in the cloud. Choose a SaaS company that stores data locally and values security, but where you own your data.
Collect multiple critical processes on the same platform
ESG is a business risk and ESG risk management should be part of the company's regular risk management process. Most companies have been managing some environmental, social and governance risks for years, but it has become more urgent to manage these issues now and to do so in a more deliberate and structured way. The benefits of acting far outweigh the costs of doing nothing, especially for medium-sized companies that may find it difficult if an incident happens. Working with ESG is a good opportunity to be on the right side, while being good for business.
It is valuable to be able to work with umbrella concepts such as GRC and ESG on the same platform. You get an overview and can compare silos with each other in different dimensions - at a strategic level that sets the conditions, structure and uniformity, but within all silos you can work as usual. This saves time, simplifies compilation, and makes information uniform and structured. Communication and collaboration between different stakeholders also becomes easier, and you avoid duplication of work.
Create a clear structure and organize more
- With a system support, you avoid that ESG work ends up outside the other risk management process, and thus does not fall between the chairs. You get support in keeping ESG and GRC work together, and with all information and data in the same place, you reduce duplication of work and avoid inconsistencies between different systems, says Max.
Max Kollberg, Product Growth Manager Risk & Control, Stratsys
A digital tool allows you to structure and organize work better, as well as create permission groups where user rights are defined. You can allocate responsibilities, control who has access to what information and see, via an audit trail, who has changed what and when. And it will require good internal collaboration, as more roles need to be involved in the work besides the sustainability specialist. In a system support, the way of working will be more uniform and it will be easier to work from strategic to operational level and back. In addition, a system support can offer automatic data integration from different sources and systems, which saves time and reduces the risk of errors that can occur during manual data entry.
- I encourage everyone to look at different systems, but at the same time, one system support is not right for every business. You need to start with the need and purpose, understand the process and look at the cost of buying and implementing a system," says Max.
