New If Risk Management Library

 Online support for our clients

If is enhancing risk management services by providing online and digital support for our clients.  Irrespective of when and where you need us, you can now get information and tools to help you in everyday loss prevention and safety management.

Consider a company HR manager that has employees in various locations all around the world. What to do in case of a human-induced or natural disaster, in order to get all employees to safety? How about being a new risk manager in a Nordic company that has factories and other premises in distant locations, all over the world? What kind safety measures should you follow to manage everyday safety and prevent losses successfully?

Alternatively, think of a company operating with industrial services. The employees are in clients' premises, performing varying tasks in various locations. What kind of industry-specific risks are there? What kind of safety information is available to prevent accidents and incidents?

Disasters, accidents and incidents do not give warning

Disasters, accidents and incidents do not give warning that they are coming. If and when something happens, quick, yet well-advised actions are required to prevent further harm and damage. Information, approved and applicable, is also needed when managing everyday safety and deciding which actions should be implemented in order to prevent losses and manage safety effectively.

New Risk Management Library

To support our clients in various challenges in risk management, If has established a digital library. This Risk Management Library is a place where we can provide relevant and useful information. This service is new, aiming to provide help and advice to our clients whenever and wherever it is needed.

The Risk Management Library has been elaborated in co-operation with our clients. It completes our on-site risk management services by providing advice and tools that can be applied independently for successful everyday loss prevention all over the world. The library is not only a novel and evolving service – its groundings have been built in cooperation with If's clients.

Where did it come from?

If's Risk Management Services launched an internal project called EB RM Nordic in spring 2016. EB RM stands for employee benefits risk management, referring to all of the services that help our clients protect their personnel at work, during travel and expatriation, and in leisure time. The aim of the project was to extend our EB RM services to all If countries in the Nordic region, as the services have previously been available primarily in Finland. The history of the risk management service portfolio is linked strongly to Finnish workers' compensation insurance.

However, there are major differences in mandatory personnel insurance between countries. We also want to help our clients identify and manage risks that relate to travel, expatriation and leisure time, in addition to those that appear at work. In addition to accident prevention, we also want to promote safety and health, both at work and at home.

The project had two main goals, namely

1. establishing a truly Nordic service model to fulfil personnel insurance, and
2. enhance the Nordic service portfolio with new person risk management tools and services that meet the Nordic clients' needs in a holistic way.

Within this new mindset, it was obvious that the current tools and services need adaptation. Secondly, it was clear from the very beginning that we need to develop new tools and services in order to support various needs, in all countries.

What do clients really expect from us?

In order to focus the development work on the right things, it was decided that we will involve our key stakeholders at an early stage of the project. The identified stakeholders included internal ones, i.e., underwriting, sales & client servicing, and the claims department. Respectively, the external stakeholder interviews were targeted to a group of brokers and client companies in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

The actual interviews charted what kind of risk management services the clients would like to get from the personnel insurance provider and what the current/forthcoming issues are that the personnel risk management service providers should focus on. The companies represented various industries, so that the findings gave us a good overview of expectations towards If. In addition, we got valuable information regarding current and forthcoming
challenges that clients are facing and/or see as emerging issues in personnel risk management.

Evolution of the If Risk Management  Library

A major finding from the interviews was that the clients expect information and support in addition to the approved face-to-face on-site services and consulting. The ideal relationship between an industrial client company and the insurer was described, e.g., as "communication partner", where the role of the insurer is rather communication and reflection, instead of acting as an authority.

Based on the findings, it was concluded that we need a Nordic media that helps to deliver information between If and the clients, such that media can also work as the place for such services that the clients can apply independently. This kind of a platform helps us, for example, to provide support in risk management to those clients that operate in various locations (consider travel risks!) or need just information instead of face-to-face service on site.

What is included?

The Risk Management Library was originally a project spinoff from EB Risk Management Nordic. Thus the aim was, during the first stage, to focus it solely on personnel insurance in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. In that context, the RM-library would and does improve our service capability while helping the clients to have some support in risk management irrespective of the time and place.

In order to serve our clients in a holistic way, it was soon decided that the library should be extended to also include support for our clients for other types of insurance as well. Therefore the library will have separate areas for:

• Personnel insurance types, including travel and expatriation, leisure time, health, and workers compensation (where applicable)
• Property damage & business interruption
• Marine cargo
• Liability

In personnel insurance, for example, the library provides self-assessments for the companies and travellers, in order to support safe travel and advice in sufficient and well-advised actions in case of incidents and emergencies. The library includes information and instructions, such as hazard info sheets, for loss prevention within all types of insurance.

The library also includes also numerous links to various external sites that provide good information and additional advice for risk management and loss prevention. The links include both country-specific webpages and other sources of information.

What next?

The first versions of Risk Management Library have been tested internally during autumn 2017 in order to gather feedback and user experiences within If. We have added content that our clients frequently look for. In personnel insurance, specific interest has been paid to meet those expectations that stakeholder interviews and other feedback has indicated. The technical structure has been harmonised and grouped so that the contents are easy to use and manage. Now the Risk Management Library is ready to be published externally, to let it evolve over time and user experiences.

As the project manager of EB RM Nordic, I want to use the final lines of this article as an opportunity to thank all interviewees in each country: your input is highly appreciated. We want to be better than ever to manage risks together with you, now 24/7.