Avoiding ERM for the Sake of ERM

Think Tank - 10:05 am - 10:30 am

In many ways ERM, or Enterprise Risk Management, has become just another buzz word that is bandied around without any clear understanding of it's meaning, any clear understanding of it's value, or any clear understanding of how it can be achieved. ERM is not a project or a task on a list to be checked off. Instead it is a fundamental change in how an enterprise approaches the way it conducts it's business to ensure that all possible impacts to it's capital and earnings are identified, quantified, and mitigated. Such a sweeping paradigmatic shift isn't something that can be taken on lightly and enterprises seeking to just place a check mark next to a to do list line item will be sorely disappointed in their results.

Takeaways:

ERM is a way of life, not a one-time effort and the only way to value is to come to that realization early
To be successful, an ERM deployment must be sponsored from the top and have the involvement of every level and every department
Even though ERM initiatives are all-encompassing it's best to start small; trying to boil the ocean is the surest way to failure and loss of good will and buy-in