Integrated Risk Monitoring in the Quality Management System

Context: The digital transformation has led to higher market competitiveness, allowing organisations to have competitive advantages over prominent installed players. However, it led to a greater exposure of organisations to new threats, which reinforces the need for integrated monitoring of risk. This approach has particular significance when the Quality Management System (QMS) implementation of the ISO 9001:2015 standard requires integrating Risk Management (RM) into the organisation's business processes. This article explores and analyses how this approach is rooted in the Portuguese business fabric. The paper presents the Model of the Integrated Risk Monitoring (MMIR), a model developed according to ISO 31000 standard of RM, having an alert mechanism in the face of risk situations in organisations. Methodology: A systematic literature review was conducted on a descriptive and content analysis of scientific articles published from the B-on database (www.b-on.pt). An online survey, based on questionnaires, was implemented to get insights into the organisation's perception of risk. The questionnaire was sent, by email, to 3599 organisations certified in Portugal under the ISO 9001:2015 standard. Results: The response rate of the online survey (6.4%) allowed to emphasise the importance of the organisation implementing a formal RM process and applying risk techniques to QMS (ISO 9001:2015). The idea of using the RM model should not be limited to specific departments or business sectors. MMIR provides an agnostic approach to the market activity in which the organisation operates, integrating the RM process with different RM techniques (strategic and operational) and considering a set of reference Key Risk Indicators (KRI) for QMS. This document helps remind organisations to use integrated risk monitoring processes in business planning and operations.