A French military leader once remarked, “A plan is always perfect until battle commences.” The same holds true for companies: despite the best laid plans, it is impossible to anticipate all possible risks. External events such as a recession, a flood or a terrorist attack are beyond anyone’s control. While companies have more control over internal risks, it is impossible to monitor every employee’s values and actions. The recent high-profile corporate scandals are testament to that fact. The right kind of planning can help assuage the impact of negative surprises.

But what is the “right” kind of planning? Debate continues about the benefits of enterprise risk management (ERM) versus traditional practices. Is ERM simply another trendy risk management tool? Or, has its value been proved by enabling companies to gain a complete understanding of their risks so they can better prioritize them and develop comprehensive management solutions?

Before even deciding on which risk management techniques and tools to employ, it is imperative that the Board develop a “tone at the top” to support the organization’s values and risk-aware culture. How much risk should a company take and what are the possible rewards? The culture created by the directors and senior officers of a corporation is the most effective tool of risk management.

The myriad of risks companies face including financial, operational, strategic, legal and reputational can seem daunting. Join Forbes editors and risk management experts including CFOs, Treasurers and Chief Risk Officers as they discuss how they are managing their corporate risks, and the management techniques and tools they employ.
https://www.forbesconferences.com/EventOverview.

----Cost Effective Security for the Private Sector

Securing communications hubs, factories, refineries, power plants, industrial parks, and major office complexes is expensive -- but essential to the welfare of enterprise itself, its neighbors in the community, and the nation. Security directives and standards are being developed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and many other federal, state, and local regulators. In its July 2004 report, the 9/11 Commission endorsed the American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI) standard for private preparedness, urged the DHS to promote its adoption, encouraged insurance and credit-rating industries “to look closely at a company’s compliance with the ANSI standard in assessing its insurability and credit worthiness,” and stated that “compliance with the standard should define the standard of care owed by a company, to its employees and the public for legal purposes.”

Until recently, securing private premises largely meant guns, guards, and a gated fence around the perimeter. But these tools are no longer adequate -- they don’t provide effective protection against today’s threats, and simply adding more of the same quickly becomes prohibitively expensive. New, cost-effective technology, by contrast, can provide much more security, at much less cost. Yesterday’s simple video cameras, ‘smart’ keys, and ID cards are rapidly giving way to intelligent video motion detection, infrared night vision, chemical/biological/explosive sniffers, next-generation package x-ray and portal screening, virtual fences, biometrics, distributed sensors, all knitted together with sophisticated communications and data systems able to “transparently” create, store and share useful information.

Much of the new technology has been developed only recently. The government has often led the way, first funding the development and then purchasing the new products to provide enhanced security at military bases, airports and harbors, embassies, and government offices at home and abroad. The best of these technologies greatly improve security, even while they cut costs. They dramatically enhance what the military calls the “situational awareness” for security personnel on the premises, and serve as “force multipliers.” They let fewer people monitor more perimeter, more facilities, very much more effectively. They greatly enhance our ability to see what’s going on, assess threats quickly and accurately, and coordinate an effective response.

This conference will explore the new technologies and systems, feature success stories, practical solutions, economic and regulatory realities, and separate reality from hype. Speakers are drawn from key government agencies, equipment vendors, the developers of cutting-edge security systems, and major end-users – Lockheed, L3, GE, Smiths Detection, Eaton, EMC, Motorola, Siemens. We will explore what’s needed, what’s available today, and what’s coming. Discussion will be squarely focused on practical, cost-effective solutions designed for, and being implemented in, the real world, by the military, the civilian side of government, and the private sector.
https://www.forbesconferences.com/EventOverview