Only 10% of North American companies have integrated ERM into practices: Aon survey

Even though government regulators and corporate stakeholders are demanding that companies do more to address and mitigate enterprise-wide risks, only 10% of companies in the Americas and Europe have fully integrated an enterprise risk management (ERM) strategy into their practices, according a survey of global ERM practices by Aon Global Risk Consulting (AGRC).
The ERM practice within Aon Global Risk Consulting partnered with David Burton Associates to conduct an online survey, in which Aon’s clients and key contacts drawn from 1,500 leading global organizations were invited to participate. The survey was conducted in July 2007.
ERM is often defined as a comprehensive understanding of the global risks facing an organization, the design of strategies to mitigate those risks and the building of a corporate culture focused on risk management.
Fully 83% of Aons survey respondents indicated they were reasonably familiar or very familiar with ERM and its implementation and purpose. But only one in four organizations said that developing ERM programs is part of their strategic planning process.
For businesses to appropriately deal with the risks they face, it is imperative that they communicate the ERM message through all levels of their organizations, said Andrew Tunnicliffe, AGRC’s head of global business development. Our survey suggests companies are behind.
Just one in seven say their ERM function is good at communicating that message.
Geographic differences with regard to ERM also exist. There is slightly greater familiarity with ERM in North America, Aon notes, and yet organizations based in [North America] are less likely than those in Europe to have a dedicated ERM function.