Connecting risk, impact and materiality over time
Enterprise risk management, double materiality assessments and human rights and environmental due diligence all exist for good reasons. Each answers a different question and many organisations have invested considerable time in developing them.
Problems arise when the processes operate alongside one another without clear connections. They produce different information, use different definitions and work to different timelines. An adverse impact identified through due diligence may never reach an enterprise risk discussion. Materiality findings may be used for reporting but not revisited when operating conditions change. An early warning known to one function may reach senior management only after customers, regulators or other stakeholders start asking questions.
Integrated Risk Management improves how information moves between these processes. Bluespar looks at where relevant information is generated, how it travels between functions, which definitions and thresholds can usefully be aligned, and when an issue needs wider review or escalation.
The goal is to make sure that information reaches the right people while there is still a decision to be made, not to design one big framework that is disconnected from how the individual teams work.
