Something Is Changing in Risk Management
"Travel risk management was largely seen as an island unto itself" until about 18 months ago, said WorldAware president Bruce McIndoe. However, the larger companies with which WorldAware works—and this will trickle down market, he said—are realizing that risk management is an "all personnel" challenge, that companies need to think about more than just the employees who are traveling. "It doesn't matter what happens in a location," he said. "I need to take care of my travelers. I need to take care of my local nationals. I need to take care of the people that happen to be visiting our office. I have a broader responsibility." He added: "Travel is just a modality. The asset that you're protecting is the person."
Following this revelation is recognition, coming from the top down, that all departments concerned with security, business continuity and crisis management should work together. Travel departments' role, then, will be less as task owners and more as data providers, he said.
Remember two years ago when iJet acquired WorldAware from Aon? BTN reported then that iJet would keep the WorldAware brand. Now, iJet is gathering up a string of recent acquisitions and rebranding them and in fact the whole company as WorldAware. That includes an acquisition you haven't heard about yet that IJet completed on June 8, president Bruce McIndoe told BTN.
IJet acquired WorldAware in May 2016. In December of that year, it acquired crisis management and response firm Red24, which gave iJet locations outside the U.S.: London, Singapore and Cape Town. In August 2017, iJet acquired Prescient Traveler from compliance and risk mitigation firm Prescient. McIndoe billed that deal as a tech play: While iJet had specialized in early notice/warning of risk and disruptions, Prescient Traveler provided near real-time, geospatial threat information at the neighborhood-level. He also categorized the June 8 acquisition as a tech deal, though he did not name the company.
McIndoe said the name WorldAware suits the company's global footprint and its continuing focus on intelligence as a driver for awareness and preparation. CEO Ben Allen also said the name aligns with the company's follow-the-sun monitoring.
In early 2016, iJet was a U.S.-centric company with one location, its Annapolis headquarters, McIndoe said. Now, it has regional operations centers in Singapore, London, Cape Town and Annapolis, plus tech centers in Annapolis; Herndon, Va.; and Cape Town, a tech hot spot.
Any existing users of WorldAware, Red24, Prescient Traveler and the just-closed acquisition can continue to use those services. When current contracts end, no change in availability or pricing will occur as a result of the unified branding, McIndoe said. He added that all these assets will converge onto a single tech platform over time.