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Welcome …

The Risk Agenda is a consulting firm specialising in risk. Our purpose is to improve the way organisations deal with an uncertain future:

    • by contributing to the advancement of good practice
    • by helping organisations adopt this good practice
    • by working with them on their specific risk challenges.

Organisations are increasingly realising that managing for a successful future is the same as managing their risks, uncertainties and opportunities in the best way. 

Two indicators of this are:

    • developing good practice in corporate governance
    • increased risk management activity in UK Government agencies.

We aim to support such trends by evolving and promoting improved risk management techniques for the identification, assessment, quantification and monitoring of risk and uncertainty.

We think this will make risk management easier, more effective and more visible to stakeholders. Above all it will enable risk management to assume its proper role as a way of viewing and thinking about management in general: helping organisations to shape their business future.

To do this we provide advice on risk management systems and tools, and on specific risk issues. We support contract bid teams, project teams and corporate risk teams in understanding and managing their risk agenda.

Client List

The clients to whom we have provided these services include:

    • Atkins Global
    • Balfour Beatty Construction
    • Balfour Beatty Management
    • Balfour Beatty Utilities Limited
    • Brian Hannaby and Associates
    • Costain
    • Department for Transport
    • EDF Energy
    • Expro Global PLC
    • London Underground
    • Manex (UK) Limited
    • Merseyrail
    • Metronet Rail BCV/SSL
  • Metronet Strategic Resource Alliance
  • National Grid Transco
  • Nynas
  • Overall Consulting Limited
  • Parsons Brinckerhoff Africa
  • Pipeline Consultants Limited
  • Schofield Lothian
  • Strategic Lines Limited
  • Taylor Woodrow
  • TTAC Limited
  • UK Parliament
  • Vinci
  • WSP

 

Who we are

Andy Garlick

The managing director of The Risk Agenda is Andy Garlick. Andy has been in risk since 1982. This started with work on nuclear risk assessment in the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. Since then he has held senior positions involving the development of a number of risk consulting businesses. These included the risk management business of AEA Technology, followed by Risk Solutions, the management consulting practice of AEA Technology, and Manex (UK) Limited.

He has worked with clients in the nuclear, transport, oil and gas, chemical and government sectors on many assignments both before and after setting up The Risk Agenda.  He has a hands-on approach and gets involved with the work of clients, in their offices on a day-to-day basis.

His mission during this time has been to make risk methods more accessible and more business-focussed.  He has seen risk management move from being a peripheral and esoteric activity, mainly concerned with safety risks, to become a core business function.  He is the author of two books on risk and uncertainty – see our resources page.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Risk Management and for some years was on the organising committee of both their North West group, Networking Northwest, and their Special Interest Group on PPP/PFI.

The Risk Agenda Network

Although The Risk Agenda is a small firm, we have numerous connections with other consulting organisations which enables us to set up and participate in larger assignment teams.

We are happy to work with other firms in an associate role and the management of larger assignments is a core competence of The Risk Agenda.

Our services

The Risk Agenda helps its clients by carrying out specific risk analyses, by supporting the development of their own risk processes, and through general management consulting. We also make the tools we develop available as products for the benefit of our clients.

Specific Risk Analyses

We work with clients to identify the risks they face, or may face, and the opportunities open to them. This leads on to prioritisation of the risk issues and the development of management plans for the significant risks.

We specialise both in working with senior managers and in using workshop environments to elicit the broad range of issues which needs to form the input to the analysis.

Risk Modelling

We also specialise in presenting the results in quantitative ways which provide the optimum means of measuring risk. We have techniques for ensuring that quantitative results are easily obtained, are useful and are credible.  We have a clear approach to developing high level risk models which avoid the pitfalls of detailed risk registers.

Risk modelling forms the topic of our book on quantitative analysis Estimating Risk which is described in more detail on our resources page.

Risk Mapping

As a result of many years of working with clients to develop risk registers and risk models we think there is a missing link: the risk map. The aim of the risk map is to provide a clear model of the system which can be used both to refine the risk register and create the model.

Risk Management Systems

We work with clients to apply the latest thinking on effective risk management to their unique environment with its specific systems, processes and culture.

Because we believe strongly that risk management is not an additional or new activity, but one that has always been the responsibility of managers, it is essential that the more formal approach recognises this.  This is a key topic in our book Better Futures: tools for dealing with uncertainty.  Again you can find more on our resources page.

General Management Consulting

It is precisely because of this that we are also asked to undertake more general management consulting assignment. Management is risk management. (What do managers do but plan, carry out and monitor actions which will tend to make make the future more favourable for their organisations – a good definition of risk management?)

We help organisations to identify issues, analyse them and find solutions. Our style is consultative yet rigorous.

Training

We have considerable experience of providing training, both in risk and in consulting development. For example, we previously offered a joint course with RedAmber Consulting on Practical Risk Tools including running risk workshops and developing risk models under the auspices of the Institute of Risk Management.

Products

Given the number and range of assignments that The Risk Agenda has been involved in it is inevitable that the work we do becomes standardised. Our aim is to move on to the next challenges and to support this we shall try to crystallise the approaches and deliver them as products that our clients can use.

Potential examples include risk database and risk quantification tools. We have now made our risk modelling tool Natural Monte Carlo available to people who are interested. You can download it from our software page.

Please visit the contact page if you would like to talk to us about these products and services.

RiskBites

Risk glossary

This glossary is provided as a guide to some of the terms you will often find in the risks management field. It’s very long so you will have to open it on its own page.

Risk software

There are several categories of risk software. They are itemised below together with some examples which The Risk Agenda have used. In exploring risk software you will see some flashy websites. However there are many more in each category so use your search engine. It is often difficult to understand exactly what each one does, …

Contact

If you would like to know more about us and the services we offer, please contact:

Andy Garlick
The Risk Agenda
79 Derbyshire Lane
Stretford
Manchester
M32 8BN
UK

Tel: 07803 594310

email: enquiries@riskagenda.com

The Risk Agenda is an equal opportunities employer