Choosing the right software for your organisation is seldom as easy as choosing software for your own private life. Not only do you need to acquire the software and have it installed on one or more workplace devices securely (i.e. without putting the organisation at risk from data breaches), but you’ve also got to provide lenience for the learning curve and acceptance of the software by employees and colleagues.
This is made all the more challenging, although for good reasons, due to the wealth of choices available. This is evident with the vast amount of risk management software available in today’s market. Consider the following before settling on a software package for your organisation:
1. Open-Source and Free Software
Quite often, you really get what you pay for, which means that open-source and free software solutions are often bare-bones in their user interface and limited in functionality. Nevertheless, some free software packages are reasonably for smaller organisations, such as SpiceWorks and SimpleRisk.
2. Paid Subscription Models
Paid subscription and paid license risk management software is a rapidly evolving and competitive niche, so you’ll find plenty of companies offering a wide range of services appropriate for your organisation. There are too many to name here, but a few notable examples that come to mind include:
NetSuite: a full enterprise risk management software package ideal for multiple use cases.
ERA Environmental: specifically tailored to health and environmental risk management.
Risk Wizard: full cloud-based risk management suite that is secure and includes user support and end product licensing.
3. Features
Perhaps the most important consideration when it comes to actually using the software is the question of features. All of the useful features for your organisation will likely differ drastically from other business cases in different industries and sectors, so this particular point is worthy of expanding into its own article, but for now, a few helpful questions you may wish to ask include:
Does the software enable organised event monitoring?
Is it possible to identify the root causes of risks?
Is real-time risk notification part of the software?
Can customisable reports be easily prepared?
Is the software cloud-based, internally hosted or both?
4. Systems Implementation
How easily will your colleagues adopt the new system? It’s well known amongst IT staff that implementing new software can be a real challenge, especially for veteran employees that have become accustomed to the existing software with an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it attitude.’
The key to winning the approval of your colleagues is to choose a product that they’ve tried and tested just as much as it’s important to choose a product that is intuitive and user-friendly. Risk Wizard provides a month-long free trial, which is ideal for meeting both of these criteria.
5. Updates and Notifications
Real-time notifications are awfully convenient, but our phones and laptops constantly being inundated with non-relevant notifications can lead to desensitisation and frustration. Risk Wizard sends relevant real-time notifications only to the appropriate users, thus helping you maintain compliance as well as cutting down on non-essential notifications to team members.
Risk Wizard
Get a demo: Visit riskwizard.com/demo or email to: sales@riskwizard.com