Canadian businesses are still grappling with a “fix it only when it breaks” mentality toward risk, leaving insurers to push for a more proactive approach, according to John Billis (pictured), vice president and head of Aviva Risk Management Solutions in Canada. While some companies have embraced new technologies and continuity planning, many remain fragmented, inconsistent, and resource-constrained in how they manage emerging threats.
Billis said the insurer sees firsthand how risk maturity varies across its client base – and how difficult it remains for many organizations to move beyond a reactive stance.
“We do come across a lot of customers with an ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’ type approach,” he told Insurance Business. “Some are more advanced when it comes to adopting what’s out there, but for others it takes time to understand the different technologies available and what makes sense for their operation.”
The challenge, he explained, is not just about awareness but also resources. “There’s always a bit of a battle between where to invest – capital expenditures or risk management. That varies from one client to another.”
One recurring problem is that knowledge often remains siloed inside organizations. A site-level manager may have a detailed understanding of exposures at one facility, but that expertise does not always scale across locations or feed into broader business continuity planning.
“We also see sometimes fragmented risk,” Billis said. “You may have at one location very specific knowledge of risk, but then how does that tie into the other locations or the big picture? That’s where there’s still a disconnect.”
That fragmentation often shows up in supply chain planning, he added, where companies may build continuity plans around one region but fail to account for knock-on effects across their global footprint. Inconsistent data collection, varying safety standards between sites, and uneven adoption of new protocols all create gaps that leave firms exposed.
This inconsistency, Billis noted, varies not only by company size but also by sector. Smaller businesses may lack resources entirely, while larger ones may struggle to coordinate risk practices across sprawling supply chains or multinational operations. “It all depends on the people we interact with,” he said.
For Aviva, its Global Risk Management Solutions (GRMS) initiative is part of an effort to help businesses close those gaps. Billis said the focus is on arming clients with better tools and resources so they can adopt more forward-looking practices.
“We’re really making sure we’re bringing tools and resources to clients so they can understand the technologies that are out there and how they could leverage them to adopt a more proactive approach to risk,” he said.
The insurer’s role, he argued, goes beyond underwriting or claims handling. By providing clients with frameworks, benchmarks, and technology-driven insights, insurers can help shift risk management from a compliance exercise into an integrated business function. That shift also requires cultural buy-in at the client level, where executives decide whether to treat risk as a strategic issue or a box-ticking obligation.
One of the biggest changes, Billis noted, is how insurers themselves interact with clients. Traditional face-to-face site visits remain a core part of risk assessment, but digital tools now allow for new ways of sharing data, monitoring exposures, and even conducting virtual assessments.
“Traditionally, it was very much face-to-face interactions – we had to travel, meet with insureds, and spend time on site,” Billis said. “And there’s still a need to do that. But nowadays, with digital tools, we’re able to share a lot of information remotely, and we can provide resources and tools at the right time in the right way.”
That shift has allowed Aviva to modify how it delivers risk services, combining in-person and remote approaches. “Sometimes we’re able to do assessments virtually or remotely, leveraging technologies we didn’t have five years ago,” he said. “That’s helped us engage with insureds in a more meaningful way.”
For clients, the result is quicker access to expertise and more flexible engagement, whether that means on-the-ground engineering visits or digital resources delivered when needed. Insurers can tailor the format to the complexity of the exposure, ensuring that smaller issues are resolved quickly while more significant risks still get deep, in-person analysis, he said.
