John Lewis' risk management: Strong ARM tactics

John Lewis has added a new risk management application to its armoury.

The retailer is currently installing Active Risk Manager (ARM) from Strategic Thought to help integrate and consolidate its risk management data and processes.

According to Paul Clift, head of risk management at John Lewis, the risk management system at the company was first put in place eight or nine years ago and has been refined ever since. Rather than opt to rip and replace, John Lewis was looking for software to support the system already in place.

"We were comfortable with [the risk management system] right up to main board of the company - they were used to seeing what they were used to seeing, they were used to the way in which information was being presented, and what we needed was software to support that, to underpin what we were used to doing," he said.

Clift told silicon.com that the environment had lead to "a number of people doing things mostly the same but slightly differently". "When it came to collecting and collating that information in a hierarchical way in order to report succinctly to our group executive management, then that was becoming a problem," he added.

The ARM deployment will now help the retailer improve uniformity of collecting, collating and recording data, as well as freeing up staff time.

"There are only so many fields that can be completed in so many ways, so the extent of consistency throughout the group will improve," Clift said.

ARM will also help "eliminate one or two layers of human effort in reinterpreting the risk information in the escalation of that information", he added.

The rollout is expected to be completed this month.