Risk management teams seen unprepared to meet future challenges

Fewer than one-third of insurance executives believe their risk management teams are prepared to meet future challenges, according to the RIMS Risk Management Talent Report 2025, released Thursday.

According to the report, 92% of insurance professionals believe that a diversity of perspectives is vital to risk management decision-making today, but only 16% believed there will be a sufficient number of risk management graduates to meet 2025 demands.

Most professionals also believe that universities need to substantially alter their curricula to meet future risk management challenges and that new skills will be needed to meet challenges in the insurance business by 2025, but three-quarters of risk management students said they’re confident they will be prepared to meet challenges in the insurance industry by 2025.

The professionals surveyed also anticipate that technology will play a larger role, with more than three-quarters saying they anticipate that functions such as IT and supply chain will incorporate risk goals in five years.

The survey included two open-ended questions, for which it received 1,500 responses. The most common issues relayed included difficulty in obtaining leadership buy-in for enterprise risk management concepts, retaining talent, and the disconnect between textbook learning and the actual job.

The report, a joint initiative of risk management society RIMS, Chubb Ltd., Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. and Willis Towers Watson PLC, was generated via a survey of more than 800 risk managers and more than 1,170 total insurance professionals from April 19, 2019, to June 6, 2019.