The Holistic approach towards Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)

ERM looks at each business unit as a "portfolio" within the firm and tries to understand how risks to individual business units interact and overlap. It is also able to identify potential risk factors that are unseen by any individual unit. The Government ambitious plan of PM GatiSakti is the fine example of how ERM is being followed on principle.

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Sanjay Singh
MBA-Ins, Fellow-III, DCII-London
Senior Manager-Underwriting
Shriram General Insurance Co Ltd

Introduction: Enterprise risk management (ERM) is a methodology that looks at risk management strategically from the perspective of the entire firm or organization. It is a top-down strategy that aims to identify, assess, and prepare for potential losses, dangers, hazards, and other potentials for harm that may interfere with an organization's operations and objectives and/or lead to losses. The Successful ERM strategies can mitigate operational, financial, security, compliance, legal, and many other types of risks. Enterprise risk management takes a holistic approach and calls for management-level decision-making that may not necessarily make sense for an individual business unit or segment.

Thus, instead of each business unit being responsible for its own risk management, firm-wide surveillance is given precedence. It also often involves making the risk plan of action available to all stakeholders as part of an annual report. Industries as varied as aviation, construction, public health, international development, energy, finance, and insurance all have shifted to utilize ERM. ERM, therefore, can work to minimize firm wide risk as well as identify unique firm wide opportunities. Communicating and coordinating between different business units is key for ERM to be successful, since the risk decision coming from top management may seem at odds with local assessments on the ground. Firms that utilize ERM will typically have a dedicated enterprise risk management team that oversees the workings of the firm.Modern businesses face a diverse set of risks and potential dangers.