Case study
A business supplying industry-related data to its customers recognised the need to move from paper-based to online provision and invested significantly in developing internet-based services. The online side of the business grew rapidly to account for over 50% of its revenues.
The complexity of the IT and telecommunications infrastructure supporting the new services meant that very few people understood in any detail how it all linked together. In fact, there was a huge dependency on one member of the IT department, to the extent that the poor chap was constantly called in out of hours and while on holiday to resolve technical problems.
If this wasn’t a big enough risk it was compounded somewhat by another issue. The company had a small satellite office in a converted farm building in the middle of nowhere. Because of a spate of false alarms there, the police refused to attend site when the burglar alarm went off until someone from the company had been to check things out. The person who lived closest, and therefore the one who frequently got called out in the middle of the night to go to a remote location, in the dark, on his own, where there was a potentially dangerous situation, was, you’ve guessed it, the person on whom the operation of the online services depended.
Incredibly, these risks had not been considered until a risk assessment highlighted them and senior management decided that they really ought to take steps to mitigate them.
Identifying the risks – how do I go about it?
Having identified the most critical elements of our business, we can set about assessing the risks to them. The most effective way of doing this is by using the technique of “brainstorming”4
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While it’s possible to do this on your own, it’s generally far more effective if several people are involved. Involving others gives a more objective view and helps to avoid the “wood for the trees” syndrome, where risks that are obvious to some people are either not noticed, or worse still, ignored by those closest to them.
4 Readers who are not familiar with the process of brainstorming should refer to page 96. 32 CHAPTER 2
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