Automation Concepts
and Technologies, Inc.

Serving the Boston Area for 19 years 

Risk Management

People think of Risk Management as something giant corporations engage in but each of us manages risk on a daily basis. For instance, we buy insurance to transfer the risk of an accident. We install better locks or alarms to reduce the risk of theft. But aside from the obvious risks, not many small businesses have done a thorough risk analysis.

What if :

You drove up to the office tomorrow and it was gone?

Your office was there but someone had stole all your file servers?

A fire had destroyed the file room with the company records?

You get the idea. What in your business represents the greatest value? What can be replaced easily and what cannot? Insurance may cover the cost of a new file server but no one, other than you, can replace the data .

Before you can manage your risks you need to identify them. Automation Concepts can help you in this process. Once identified, you can take steps to reduce the risk or transfer the risk. Insurance is a good example of risk transference. Known-working, secure and encrypted off-site disk-based backups are a good way to reduce risk.

Here are some sample steps in the risk management process:

• Establish the Scope - What areas of risk will the plan deal with?

• Identify the potential risks and assign values.

• Assess the degree of risk and assign values.

• Propose risk treatment

1. Avoidance - Stop the activity creating the risk

2. Reduction - Policies or Procedures to reduce the risk

3. Retention - Accept the risk as "cost of doing business"

4. Transfer - Buy insurance to cover the loss.

• Create a risk management plan - Based on the steps above document the plan
• Implementation - Put the new policies and procedures in place and obtain any additional insurance identified on the plan.

• Periodic review & evaluation - Review and evaluate the plan and results after implementation and on a periodic basis.

See also Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery Planning.

Automation Concepts can get you started in the right direction and guide you through this process.