SERVICE
Enterprise Risk Management
Enterprise risk management is the practice of looking at risk across the whole organisation at once, rather than function by function, and making decisions with that complete picture in view. AxiomRisk designs and implements ERM frameworks for businesses across India, sized to what the organisation will actually maintain.
It matters because when risk is managed in silos, the exposures that span functions are the ones nobody owns — and those are usually the ones that cause damage. ERM gives you one view of your material risks, one basis for comparing them, and one place where ownership and escalation are defined.
What an enterprise risk management framework contains
Most businesses already manage risk. Finance watches credit and cash flow, operations worries about equipment and suppliers, IT handles systems. Each is genuine risk management. The gap ERM closes is that these efforts rarely talk to each other, so priorities get set locally rather than across the business and leadership receives fragments rather than a position.
A working risk management framework does not need to be elaborate. At minimum it establishes a shared way of describing and rating risk, a register that is genuinely maintained, defined ownership and escalation thresholds, and reporting that answers what the largest exposures are, what has changed, and what needs a decision now.
ISO 31000 is the international standard setting out principles and guidelines for risk management, and it informs how we think about establishing risk criteria. Our work is advisory rather than certification-driven — we build the framework around your organisation rather than to a template.
Problems this addresses
ERM engagements typically begin with one of these situations:
- Nobody can produce a current list of the organisation’s most significant risks.
- Risks are recorded in several places, rated inconsistently, and cannot be compared.
- A register exists but has not been updated since it was created.
- Risks that span two or more functions have no owner, because each team assumes another holds it.
- Escalation depends on judgement made under pressure, because no thresholds were agreed in advance.
- The board receives risk reporting it cannot act on, or receives none at all.
- The risk profile has not been revisited after growth, a new market, an acquisition or a new dependency.
HOW WE WORK
How we approach enterprise risk management
The same four-stage method underpins every engagement. It is set out in full on our approach page. See our approach in detail.
- 01
Understand
We start with the business — what you do, how you do it, what you are planning, and where you already feel exposed — including your objectives, constraints and appetite for risk.
- 02
Assess
Structured risk identification across functions and processes, assessment of likelihood and business impact against a scale defined in your terms, and honest prioritisation so effort goes where it counts.
- 03
Advise
A framework you can operate: register structure, rating criteria, named ownership, escalation thresholds and reporting written for decision-makers rather than specialists.
- 04
Support
Support through implementation, periodic review as the business evolves, and a point of contact when a decision or incident calls for one.
What the engagement produces
Scope is agreed upfront. Depending on it, an engagement produces:
Engagements are shaped as either a focused review with a defined scope, or ongoing advisory as your risk profile evolves. Both are described on the services hub.
- Risk identification across functions and processes
- A prioritised risk register your team can actually maintain
- A common scale for likelihood and impact, defined in measures your business recognises
- Clear ownership, thresholds and escalation paths
- Reporting that gives leadership a real picture
- A practical action roadmap, prioritised rather than exhaustive
Who this is for
We work with businesses of all sizes, from growing SMEs putting a first framework in place to established enterprises seeking an independent view of an existing one.
- Founders and managing directors who want one view of the risks that matter
- CFOs building risk reporting the board can use
- Operations and compliance leads consolidating fragmented registers
- Boards and audit committees seeking independent challenge on risk governance
Risk areas an ERM framework covers
QUESTIONS
Frequently asked
What is enterprise risk management?
Enterprise risk management, often shortened to ERM, is the practice of identifying and managing risk across an entire organisation on a consistent basis, rather than separately within each function. Its purpose is to give leadership one comparable view of material exposures, with clear ownership for each.
Does a smaller business need an ERM framework?
Not always. A small business with one product line and a short supply chain may be well served by simpler, less formal risk management. The question is whether you can name your most significant risks, whether someone owns each of them, and whether they are reviewed other than after something goes wrong. If not, a framework is likely to help.
How is ERM different from compliance?
Compliance asks whether you are meeting rules set externally. ERM asks what could go wrong and what you are doing about it, with the scope set by your business rather than by a regulator. Non-compliance is one risk among several, so compliance sits inside enterprise risk management rather than replacing it.
What does an ERM engagement actually produce?
A prioritised risk register with named owners, a rating scale defined in your own terms, agreed escalation thresholds, reporting suited to leadership, and a clear set of prioritised recommendations. The emphasis is on a framework the team will maintain after we leave.
Who should own risk in our organisation?
Every material risk should have a named individual as owner, not a department. A risk owned by a function tends to be owned by nobody, because when something falls between two teams a departmental owner gives everyone a reason to assume it sits elsewhere.
Do you provide legal advice as part of this?
No. We provide risk and management advisory support, and we work alongside your legal counsel where legal advice is needed.
Discuss your risk priorities
Most engagements begin with a short, no-obligation conversation about where you feel exposed and what a proportionate framework would involve.
Related services
Further reading
References
- Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) — Sets governance and risk-management expectations for listed entities in India.
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) — Publishes risk-management and governance direction for regulated financial entities.