What is ERM/BC/COOP ?

What, in a nutshell, is Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), Business Continuity, and COOP?

Protection.

For an organization - all organizations (commercial, industrial, educational, government, non-profit, charitable) of all sizes (small families to multinationals with 10s of thousands of people).

ERM - also known as Business Continuity and Continuation Of OPerations - identifies

• why an organization exists
• what are the organization's critical processes
• what are the risks to the organization's critical processes
• what can be done to avoid or mitigate the risks to the organization's critical processes

then it

• recommends appropriate avoidance and mitigation measures based on defined criteria
• prioritizes the risks based on (a) probability of occurrence and (b) impact on the organization
• develops plans to respond to a risk if it occurs
• develops plans to protect an organization's most critical resource, its people
• establishes a process to sustain the ERM program's currency
• creates a training methodology to test the ERM findings while building responder confidence

What type risks?

All risks are considered; nothing is too "off the wall." Playing the "what if" game is the essence of risk identification. What if a client's order is delayed? What if a client can't pay? What if the mailing list "disappears" or the accounting files are corrupted? What if the building can't be occupied (think of the congregations in New Orleans after Katrina's visit)? What if the leadereship unexpectedly is absent. Consider what happens if a major donor doesn't.

Enterprise Risk Management isn't rocket science, but it does take an experienced practitioner to make certain all the risks are uncovered, that appropriate mitigation or avoidance measures are in place, that people know how to respond.

As I wrote earlier: ERM is protection. Similar to insurance (which is an ERM concern), we prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

That's what ERM is all about.

Yohanon
yohanon.glenn@gmail.com