Tools to share with your customers: Risk Advisor app and Podcasts
01/05/2021
Zurich Risk Advisor
Louise Kerrigan, Property Practice Leader at Zurich said: “Zurich Risk Advisor is an app-based solution, which provides risk engineering expertise whenever and wherever you need it. The remote collaboration features of Zurich Risk Advisor, help organisations carry out on-site or virtual site visits to assess fire risk, employers’ liability risk or cyber risks.
Easy-to-use video streaming technology, enables you to collaborate with our risk engineers through your mobile device. These specialists conduct a virtual visit of your location, using the same trusted risk engineering approach and risk rating methodology that Zurich is known for.
Through the app, it's possible to analyse risk in a quantitative manner by brainstorming hazard scenarios, generating a risk profile, setting tolerance boundaries and devising a plan of prioritised risk improvements.
In instances when you require a succinct and quick response, the snapshot tool consists of simplified questions, which can be completed in a couple of minutes. Feedback is received immediately and provides insights into what you're doing well, along with areas of improvement.
Zurich Risk Advisor also gives customers access to our risk grading methodology, key practices, risk insights and industry benchmarks.”
Risk insights podcast series
Louise Kerrigan said: “Zurich’s risk insights podcast series, covers a broad range of topics and risks that have become increasingly important during the Covid-19 crisis. In the weeks following the initial lockdown, we generated 21 different guides covering issues such as: general guidance for buildings closing down/ partial closure, organisational resilience and practical guidance for school shutdowns.”
You can access the series here: Zurich risk insights podcast series
Buildings telematics proposition
Louise Kerrigan said: “During lockdown one, we took the opportunity to accelerate our building telematics proposition. Building telematics starts to move us away from traditional risk management and enables us to utilise customer data and to facilitate safer, smarter and more sustainable buildings.
Building telematics is a device that's similar to a plug and play telematics vehicle device, however it plugs into a customer’s building management system (BMS), which controls and monitors the building's mechanical and electrical equipment such as heating, ventilation, lighting and fire systems. We translate the data from the BMS, using a suite of rules, which provides insight and clarity around risk management, operational efficiency and sustainability.
Initially the system runs for 60 days before the report is generated, providing customers with an overview of the property’s current performance and provides areas of improvement. After this period, there is then the opportunity to access a live dashboard – this delivers an agile overview of all of your buildings and how they're performing. It also enables us to set up additional risk sensors, identify key focus areas or high risk areas.
The data provides greater visibility, which enables customers to take proactive action to prevent challenges associated with fire detection, fire prevention and Escape of Water.
We’re able to advise organisations how to reduce their energy bills – which can have a significant financial benefit. With the data provided and the experience of our risk engineers, we may be able to save you hundreds of pounds, just by turning down the heating by one degree.
We’ll also help customers to identify behaviours which feed into your sustainability goals – for example, turning down the heating thermostat also helps you to beat climate change, and reduces the organisation’s carbon footprint.”
Horizon Scanning
Gavin Chalmers, Risk and Resilience Team Leader at Zurich said: “Horizon scanning is a useful tool to help better understand the uncertainties that we may face in order to build organisational resilience. It's a process that helps spot potential causes of uncertainty, helping us to ensure that adequate preparation is made and that threats can be survived and opportunities maximised.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has presented an unprecedented set of circumstances that will continue to affect the risks organisations are managing and those that they will face in the future. Yet by considering those risks that are likely to rise in the future, as well as those that currently exist, customers will be better placed to implement appropriate control measures and manage risk for the long-term.
Information has been collected following our post-Covid customer workshops and the key theme that emerged was that there was a lack of pandemic planning. In many cases, working from home posed new challenges alongside the technology issues this involved. However, the use of technologies has accelerated and presents real opportunity for hybrid working.”
To leverage horizon scanning moving forwards, Zurich can help organisations to structure their investigation and to identify future opportunities.
For more information about anything mentioned in this article please speak to your usual Zurich contact.
