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Author: David Tattam
ISBN No: 978-0-566-0918
Review date: 24/06/2026
No of pages: 232
Publisher: Gower
Year of publication:
Brief:
The latest in a ‘short guide’ series from Gower is a handy and readable Short Guide to Operational Risk.
Operational risk, the Australian author David Tattam begins by saying, ‘simply comes from doing things or operating’. So while it applies to all sides of business, it has use for security and retail loss prevention managers. Certainly in the final chapter, ‘The key to achieving operational risk management success’, you could usefully replace the word ‘risk’ with ‘profit protection’ and use Tattam’s ideas to bang the drum for ‘engaging the business from a ‘benefit to you’ rather than a ‘hassle for you’ perspective’. Your aim might be to reduce avoidable losses; reducing insurance costs; and protecting reputation; besides ensuring compliance, for example in banking or other regulated sectors. Tattam makes a good case for operational risk not getting in the way of business but flagging up dangers – and opportunities; measuring them, by KRIs (key risk indicators); and learning from the incidents and losses. Tattam ends: “Operational risk management as a discipline is developing rapidly and I believe, becoming slowly accepted as an essential component of any organisation,however big or small.” One example he covers briefly is control over unauthorised access to IT systems. Do you control by passwords – and prevent access, at low cost; do you install intrusion detection software, to detect misuse; or do you buy back-up systems, at a higher cost, to react to misuse? You assess – what are the cost-benefits, and what are the likelihood and consequences of the risk? Tattam does a good job consistently showing that risk management is dynamic, a process, and not about getting in the way of good business. It takes in training, reporting (by company intranet?), and planning (including for a crisis and recovery). Good operational risk should be relevant and concise, and so is this book.
