When choosing a risk management information system (RMIS) or making a RMIS switch, the process of assessing systems sometimes feels like comparing apples to apples. As important as the big functionalities are, organizations would do well to look at the more granular details—details that, however simple they may seem, address their organization’s very specific needs, while also saving time and preventing mental fatigue.
As a Risk Management Monitor article says, “An effective relationship starts with knowing the specific requirements of your enterprise and setting relevant priorities” and then checking how closely your RMIS provider can match them.
Why the little things matter
The workforce today puts in longer hours, more days a week than ever before. But employees aren’t spending all of that time tackling more projects and setting more goals, as one might expect. The 2018 survey Companies Are Overlooking a Primary Area for Growth and Efficiency: Their Managers found that 36% of company managers spend 3 to 4 hours per day on administrative tasks. An employee who spends an hour manually entering data or emailing colleagues about upcoming tasks is using time that could be better spent on more valuable activities like interacting with clients and improving product offerings.
The key to cutting down on repetitious administrative tasks lies in having the right technology in place. Some organizations assume that this means implementing a complex automation solution. But as the Risk and Insurance article Separating Substance From Hype points out, “Even simpler technologies can make a big difference in helping carriers increase efficiency while cutting costs...These technologies aren’t necessarily flashy or disruptive. They simply take existing processes and give them a modern makeover.”
With simple but sophisticated technology able to automate some of the more burdensome daily tasks, employees can gain more than a dozen hours a week for higher priority tasks, save their organization money, and reap the benefits of increased mental energy.
Choosing a RMIS provider with the right priorities
Organizations remain bogged down with administrative work when their software hasn’t taken over the more mundane daily tasks, or hasn’t fine-tuned them to be any more efficient than when done manually. The Pressing Need to Simplify Work says it boils down to mindset: “...Simplifying is not easy. It is a lot easier to add complexity, like new structures, processes, and rules, than it is to strip something down to its core to deliver the intended function.” The right RMIS provider won’t take the easy route but instead will intentionally design its system in a way that values simplicity. Several key components indicate your RMIS is on the right track.
A process designed to deliver “real-world” functionality
Some software companies focus on massive end-of-year updates so they don’t have to push major feature releases and functionality upgrades into the following year. This makes for a nice “wow” factor but compromises prioritization. When major upgrades take front and center, essential, yet less flashy functionalities tend to get tossed aside, or those that are released aren’t as user-friendly as they could be.
Cloud-based Origami Risk, on the other hand, benefits from system updates every 8 to 10 weeks. This development and release schedule is purposefully designed to free up developers to tackle the everyday, time-saving functionalities that often get overlooked, such as Origami’s seamless drag-and-drop feature for transferring native files into the system, or its easy-to-create distribution lists for reports. Sure, these functionalities may not make headline news, but they work remarkably well and give employees hours of time back each week.
A dedicated team
For an organization that has spent years dealing with a legacy system, its employees may have come to accept that the way things have always been are the way they must always be. But there’s a better way. The right RMIS provider will not only have sales professionals who play a consultative role, but also a dedicated service team that works with a client during implementation and every day after go-live. Throughout this relationship, the team can guide the selection of the most appropriate time-saving features and configurations.
A dedicated service team that works with a client from the beginning is also more in-tune with that client’s specific needs, keeping the human element alive in a RMIS. Origami views all its functionalities from the standpoint of how people will actually use them. In the video example below, navigating from a claim to a note or document with one click stands as recognition that storing documents is only one part of the equation; how you retrieve them is another. What matters to users is all that should matter in a RMIS, and a devoted service team makes this happen.
A flexible, growth-oriented system
A dedicated service team can best guide a client when the technology they support is flexible. A system with configuration options allows organizations to select only the features that align with current needs, and dial in on the day-in, day-out use of the system.
Designated system administrators can easily make tweaks and refinements to certain functionalities, and then quickly apply these tailored changes throughout the system. This increases overall functionality and provides clients with immediate results and relief. Once users see the benefits of these simple solutions, they can start exploring some of the other hidden functionalities within the RMIS that match their business growth and program changes.
With a number of systems offering a range of big-picture features, it’s easy to get caught up in the hype of the latest and “greatest.” But looking at a system holistically will reveal the providers with an intentionally designed process that values details, and with the solutions to an organization’s unique needs and opportunities. Without losing sight of your larger objectives, it’s time to start thinking small.