Why is Risk Assessment Important Today?
Before I dive into why a risk assessment is essential in today’s world, it is important to briefly define what a risk assessment is. A risk assessment is best defined as a systematic process of evaluating the potential risks that one encounter in a projected activity or undertaking. There are different types of risks spanning from security-related to physical and personal. For this answer, I will draw mainly from my expertise in the security industry. With that said, elements of a standard risk assessment include the following:
- Identification of hazards
- Deciding who and how one might be harmed
- Evaluation of risks and decide on precautions
- Recording findings and implementing them
- Reviewing assessment and updating when necessary
As a security intelligence expert myself, my area of work focuses mainly on political and security-related threats. One of the most important challenges of today’s modern world is the rapid changes that have taken place in the last 20 years. The main objective of conducting a risk assessment is identifying hazards that an entity would might face soon or in the near future and calculate the ramifications of said hazards. Based on the outcomes of this process, one is able to determine the nature of the risk mitigation plan, security budgets, and human resources to manage potential crisis. Therefore, the importance of a risk assessment shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Over the last two decades, the world has been rapidly changing as a result of the recent technological revolution and rise of new media. Because of this, the way people conducted risk assessments has differed across time. However, with access to technology and data, it is essential to acknowledge its use in determining the potential of threats or risks. For example, no one predicted the Arab Spring that took place in 2010 and everyone was surprised of the domino effect it had in the Arab world. However, the data (had it been taken seriously) predicted this occurrence and many others similar to it. As such, paying attention to all media outlets is important in crafting a solid risk assessment. Equally important is adjusting the risk assessment on a continuous basis with changing circumstances. Have a risk assessment that is continuously monitored and adjusted helps keep people on track and stay ahead of risks and threats that might arise. Generally speaking, people don’t realize the power of continuous threat assessment being done in parallel with operations to avoid surprises like the Arab Spring from happening. Some of these threatening catastrophes have drastic effects on entities and individuals to the extent that they stop operations completely. Therefore, the goal of continuous risk assessment is to be more proactive rather than reactive.
30 years ago, in order to assess threats in a country, one would manually look for connections in data; nowadays, data is available in live and real-time formats. Resources were also limited before, but now there is a vast amount of unlimited resources, including online. While having a system to aggregate and process this vast amount of data poses a challenge in today’s world, it is still a much more precise alternative than qualitative reporting. Numbers, statistics and data are always reliable in determining and forecasting potential hazards.
At RedCrow Intelligence, we provide basic and in-depth risk assessments tailored to our clients’ needs. If you are interested in our risk assessment services, please click here to contact us and a representative will get back to you to determine the best assessment for you.
