Short read: IRM over spreadsheets? 📊

Risks are a part of any business. From natural disasters to cyber attacks, there are many things that can go wrong and interrupt or, in extreme cases, cease business operations. The only way to protect your organisation from these risks is by identifying them and taking appropriate steps to mitigate them.

Unfortunately, managing risks on spreadsheets can be difficult, time consuming and often inefficient. If you have a large number of employees or assets, it can be difficult to track all the information in one place.

An Integrated Risk Management (IRM) platform will help you keep track of risks in one centralised location. This will allow you to identify and manage risks more effectively, give you the ability to create better reports and dashboards, as well as improve your efficiency when dealing with risk management issues.

So, what are the main benefits of using an Integrated Risk Manager over spreadsheets?

An IRM platform:

• is easier to use than spreadsheets for new employees who don’t have much experience with the processes and procedures within your organisation, or employees who aren’t familiar with Excel formulas
• allows for better reporting capabilities than spreadsheets because it has built-in data analytics tools that allow users to view their results in different ways (e.g., pie charts, bar graphs etc.)
• gives users the ability to create custom reports based on specific criteria that they set themselves rather than having to be limited by off-the-shelf reporting capabilities
• allows users to create custom fields and sections that they can add to their automated forms, while spreadsheets don’t have this functionality
• provides users with the ability to perform conditional formatting on data which helps them better identify trends
• allows users to export their data in multiple formats, including .csv and .pdf
• gives users the ability to create custom workflows that automate certain actions based on specific criteria
• has built-in security features so users can control who has access to specific sections/data

A spreadsheet is only as good as the person using it.