Your Risk Assessment Reports Are Holding You Back

What kind of business do you want to have? You probably didn’t get into the risk assessment industry hoping to put in long hours just to scrape by. Most security consultants want a profitable business that allows them to do the kind of work they love, with time to do the things they enjoy.

Are you there yet?

If your security consulting business is still using paper-based vulnerability and compliance assessments, you’ll have a hard time reaching the level of success you want. Instead, you’ll spend countless hours doing the least enjoyable part of your job—the reporting. Paper reports are holding your business back, and you’ll keep hitting the ceiling as long as you’re committed to paper-based methods. I know that’s a bold statement, but here are five reasons why it’s true.

Paper Reporting Takes Too Long

Most security consultants are still using paper notepads and checklists to take notes during their onsite inspections. But taking notes by hand is a huge waste of time—both during the inspection and afterwards, when you’re writing your report.

Today’s technology lets you cut several hours out of each job. Here’s a sample of what you can do if you ditch paper methods and use digital tools on a tablet or laptop:

• Embed photos automatically in the report, with no cropping or reformatting
• Easily document every vulnerability—the right software makes it easy to capture every point of risk or vulnerability
• Auto-generate your reporting—just edit your reports instead of writing them from scratch
• Provide detailed corrective actions with project management capabilities built in
• Eliminate transposing notes—no more duplicating your efforts

Most security consultants are dependent on inefficient paper methods. Imagine the competitive advantage technology can provide your business. By using tools like Circadian Risk’s vulnerability assessment software, you can deliver more value to more clients in less time.

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Paper Reports Don't Provide Real Solutions

Corrective actions are one of the things customers want most, but they may not even realize that this is available. This is because very few security consultants provide them. It’s just too time-consuming to write up a detailed corrective action plan for every single issue in a paper-based report. Often the recommendations are summarized or placed as a general remediation. But your clients don’t want you to tell them all of their problems—they want a risk consultant who can give them practical steps to fix their problems.

Security professionals who deliver valuable, detailed corrective action plans are the ones who separate themselves from the competition. They’re the ones who establish their business as a valuable consultancy, not just another commodity vendor. If you’re using paper-based methods, there’s no practical way to compete in this arena.

Circadian Risk’s physical risk assessment tool makes it possible to deliver corrective actions in greater detail than you’ve ever done before. The app automatically generates detailed corrective actions for every issue you identify. Not only do the corrective actions provide a remedy for each problem, they also prioritize the issues so your customers understand which ones to tackle first. They can even create a budget, set due dates, and assign tasks to other users.

Need to customize the corrective actions? No problem. You can quickly review each item and make any edits as needed.

You’re Missing Vital Information

Paper-based methods make it difficult to document every item that needs to be addressed. When you’ve got dozens or even hundreds of lightbulbs, window panes, sprinkler heads and ceiling tiles in each hallway, it can be a real challenge to document the location of each issue in a clear and simple way. Multiply that by the number of issues you find on the entire premises, and capturing every risk and vulnerability becomes a real chore!

It’s often easier just to document a high-level summary that lists the total number of issues per floor, and hope the client can find each one.

Digital technology makes it possible to easily capture every instance of risk or vulnerability at a client’s premises. By using a floor plan, geolocation, or photos, you can precisely place the location of each problem. Instead of a high-level summary of your observations, you can pinpoint every latch, every sprinkler head, and every window frame that’s out of compliance.

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Paper Vulnerability Reports Aren’t Actionable

Paper-based vulnerability assessments and reports don’t get read. They’re long, dense, and hard on the eyes. Your customers want something they can understand at a glance. They want data visualizations packed with information they can use. And they want interactive data they can filter.

Customers are looking for interactive, easy-to-use digital dashboards. Paper reports will never provide that kind of usability. While other industries are abandoning paper and handwritten methods, your clients are wondering why you haven’t made the transition yet. But the security consultants that are ditching paper are the ones risk assessment customers will hire.

You’re Losing Information

When you’re handwriting notes during your inspection, you’ve got to write fast to capture as much information as possible. So your handwriting turns to chicken scratch and your notes get cryptic. You jot one or two words to remind yourself about the issue you discovered with the electronic access system. Remember? That one problem with the panel?

When you take notes on paper, you risk losing valuable information when you translate them to your report. You can’t read your own handwriting, or your notes don’t fill in enough information for you to remember the details.

Digital technology captures everything you need in a moment. Type your notes directly into the report, and use photos with annotation, video, or voice recordings to flesh out the details. You’ll never lose information again.

Ditch the Paper and Get Ahead!

What kind of business do you want to have? If you’re ready to see more profits and do the things you love to do, it’s time to scrap the paper reports. Circadian Risk’s threat and vulnerability assessment software can help take your business to the next level. See it for yourself—request a personalized demo today.