Email has been a part of our everyday life for quite some time now. These days with some restrictions imposed on face-to-face interaction, email has become an effective way to communicate. As a result of this the number of emails sent and received daily has been steadily increasing each year. According to Campaign Monitor an average person sends and receives 121 business emails per day. While, this is an effective way to communicate, handling such an amount of emails can become a challenge if one does not have a strategy of how to manage them. Managing incoming emails and ensuring that emails you send are effective is important in this digital age.

The idea for this blog was conceived by Marshall Ma, who joined The ALS Group as a Risk Management Intern and now provides support on client accounts as Technical Analyst, based on the Chinese ideogram for “crisis”. It just happens that Marshall is fluent in Mandarin and is passionate about risk management. She is an Enterprise Risk Management Graduate and Lecturer at Columbia University. While at Columbia, Marshall spent a lot of time working on campus educating her peers and supporting industry outreach. She also participated in risk assessment and mitigation for the campus’ internal Career Design Lab.

Over the last decade, social media has quickly become a prominent way for businesses to advertise, communicate, and educate. On the flip side, it can be a huge risk for those businesses that cannot keep up with the ever changing tools and trends in privacy, security, and marketing. We often see businesses and even public figures falling prey to social engineering scams, ransomware, hacking, and a multitude of other cyber risks. Luckily, with some planning and diligence, mitigating these risks can be quite simple. Below are examples of some threats as well as solutions you can implement now that will help protect your business from some of the most prevalent social media threats.  

More than 80% of companies don’t manage risk effectively. Is yours one of them?

A 2014 survey by a non-profit business research firm found that fewer than 20 percent of executives say their companies effectively manage risk. Companies will often have a process in place to identify and monitor risks. But they fall short when it comes to actually implementing practices to manage those risks as part of the overall strategic plan.

When looking for coverage for Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) costs, the Directors and Officers (D&O) Policy is often the first stop. It appears to be the policy most applicable, because it defends against complaints of wrongdoing. However, to get significant protection from FCPA costs a D&O policy has to be significantly modified.

Just by the moniker, Directors and Officers Policy, you know that the coverage is intended to be limited to a collection of individuals running the entity, not the entity itself. The first modification to look for is “Side C” coverage or the equivalent language indicating that the entity will be covered in the case of FCPA matters.

We are frequently asked what the difference is between an admitted and non-admitted insurance company. Related follow-up questions will often include: Is there a premium savings? Should I be concerned about coverage terms and conditions? Are there tax implications for my business?

As a former NCAA golfer and avid golf fan who now manages risk, I couldn’t help but be struck by the similarities between a golf caddie and a risk manager. For those of you who share my love of the game, it’s easy see how managing business risks is not unlike playing a round of golf. In golf and in business, there is always a risk versus reward consideration applied to decision-making. While many opt for the risky play on the golf course without much concern for a penalty or lost ball, the same approach is not typically prudent in business.

A constant struggle for the risk manager of an organization is balancing the profitability expectations of its shareholders and maximizing operational efficiency of the risk management team in order to reduce the organization’s Total Cost of Risk (TCoR). Having a clear perspective of the organization's appetite for risk and risk tolerance is a fundamental element needed in order to achieve this balance.

Many companies are crossing national boundaries to exploit new opportunities and minimize any potential threats. Globalization brings both opportunities and risks to multinational enterprises (MNEs) doing business in another country, and requires the MNE to have a system in place to detect and respond to these potential threats and challenges.

Are you an owner of an ATV, snowmobile, jet ski or RV? Then you know the value of a good time. What is not so easily known is where to find the best insurance protection for your toys. Homeowners and Auto policies rarely cover both property and liability adequately for these types of vehicles. Therefore, in most cases, it is a best practice to procure a stand alone policy. A stand alone policy has the best safeguards in place to ensure proper coverage is in full effect. At a minimum, liability insurance is required in most states and relying on a Homeowners or Auto policy to provide the necessary coverage is a risky assumption that can lead to gaps in coverage. ATVs, RVs, jet skis and others are generally seen as a carveback on most policies. However, when specifically scheduled on an auto policy, ATVs are only covered for liability, not medical payments or physical damage and restrictions exist on who and what is covered. Another downfall is the increase in overall deductibles and elimination of liability coverage for other people.