Case studies
Deloitte Greenhouse: Philippines
Moving from risk-aware to risk-resilient
A business process outsourcing company revisits its enterprise risk management framework to unearth opportunities for innovation
The client’s challenge
As the BPO industry becomes increasingly competitive due to global labour arbitrage, our client - the BPO investment arm of a leading Philippines-based conglomerate - sought Deloitte’s expertise in identifying its ‘Black Swans’: devastating yet highly unpredictable risks. The company wanted to not only adopt a forward-thinking approach to enterprise risk management but also consider emerging opportunities to stay ahead of the curve. The ultimate objective? To think differently about risk.
Deloitte’s solution
The Deloitte Greenhouse team designed a full-day Black Swan Lab for the C-suite and senior management team across all business units. 18 leaders across the client’s subsidiaries attended the session, held in a client location in Manila that had been customized to deliver the trademark Greenhouse experience, from visual case study panels to breakout areas and brainstorming materials. Through facilitated, interactive exercises, participants were first exposed to cognitive biases and case studies of various Black Swan events. They explored traditional and non-traditional vulnerabilities through simulated crisis scenarios, evaluated the resilience of their existing mitigation plans and uncovered weak spots in their disaster recovery and business continuity plans. The Lab also featured a review of the key strategic business assumptions which underpinned the company’s decision-making. These assumptions had been uncovered prior to the Lab in a series of interviews with client executives, allowing participants from different subsidiaries an aerial view of the company’s risk landscape. To cap the session off, the Deloitte team worked with the subsidiaries to explore relevant market and industry disruptors, in order to uncover new and untapped growth opportunities for the business units.
Impact on client’s business
The Greenhouse session was an effective vehicle for the client to engage and clearly communicate its strategic risk vision to its subsidiaries, and gain alignment across all executive teams. The combination of expert facilitation, interactive techniques and consciously-designed exercises gave the participants a fresh perspective on their risk landscape and stimulated productive discussions. This culminated in the executive team of each subsidiary identifying and prioritizing three newly uncovered risks as well as business opportunities which were immediately actionable. Additionally, the Deloitte team has been engaged to conduct another Black Swan Lab for the client’s other sub-division.
