Imagine a typical consultancy firm staffed by dry, technically minded engineers. Now make the leap to Eduardo and his colleagues. Oryzont rocks. Literally! Together with clients and other business relations, the team celebrated the anniversary at the legendary Madrid rock venue Sala Clamores. Eduardo personally took to the stage before everyone joined in a rousing birthday song.
Eduardo: “The celebration was exactly what we had hoped for: a mix of reunions, long-overdue conversations, laughter, music and emotion. It was a day to pause for a moment, enjoy everything we have experienced together and realise that no company reaches its tenth anniversary on its own.”
Oryzont is now ten years old. When did you think: ‘The Spanish market is ready for a firm that helps companies manage risk in an integrated way and safeguard continuity?’
“Oryzont was founded with the ambition of bringing risk engineering closer to industrial SMEs. These companies make up the vast majority of Spanish businesses. Large companies are generally well supported: they are regularly visited by consultants and insurers and routinely receive recommendations on how to reduce risk. In the SME segment, however, there was still considerable room for development. We saw a clear opportunity to add value.
At Oryzont, we did not choose to wait until the market was ready. We wanted to help shape a different way of thinking about industrial risk management. We do this by combining technical expertise with close client relationships and a pragmatic approach.”
What do you remember most about Oryzont’s first year?
“2016 was above all a year of enthusiasm and creativity. There was no company in Spain doing exactly what we had in mind. As a result, we had to develop almost everything ourselves: methodologies, services, working models and even the way we explained our value to the market.
It was an intense period that demanded a great deal of personal commitment. At the same time, it was also extremely valuable, because we were still completely free to shape our own identity.”
Is there a client case from the past ten years that clearly shows what Oryzont stands for?
“The Pythagoras Project is probably the best example. We developed this project together with Aon for major clients in the food industry. Through this initiative, Oryzont has been able to deploy almost all of its technical capabilities: from implementing procedures to designing fire protection systems, supervising works and providing broad technical support.
After more than three years of development, we believe the project has become a distinctive initiative in the Spanish market.”
Which areas of expertise do clients use most?
“Traditionally, there has been strong demand in the Spanish market for services relating to underwriting and risk assessment for insurers and brokers. At the same time, our expertise in fire safety, fire protection and industrial safety has increasingly enabled us to carry out larger technical projects for end clients.
Initiatives such as the Pythagoras Project have been important in this respect. They demonstrate the value that a more integrated approach to risk management can offer.”
Has client demand changed since 2016? We can imagine, for example, that cybersecurity was not yet a priority at that time.
“Client priorities have clearly changed in recent years. This is largely due to the hardening of the insurance market during these years. As a result, awareness around risk improvement and asset protection has grown significantly. The main challenge in our home market now is to embed that risk management culture, independently of the cycles of the insurance market. Risk management needs to become a structural part of business strategy.”
What added value does the international Riskonet consultancy network, of which Oryzont is part, offer your clients?
“For clients with international operations, the value of a network such as Riskonet is enormous. They gain access to highly qualified local specialists in different countries. This allows us to combine global technical expertise with genuine knowledge of local regulations and market-specific conditions.
We see considerable potential to develop this international collaboration further in the coming years. That applies both to our Spanish clients and to clients in other markets where the Riskonet consultancy network is represented.
Oryzont applies the same technical standards as large international consultancy organisations but adds in-depth knowledge of Spanish regulations and local industrial practice. It is precisely this balance between international technical expertise and local knowledge that is one of the strengths of the Riskonet network.”
Looking ahead, which risks or client questions do you expect to become more important in Spain in the coming years?
“We expect issues such as business continuity and resilience to become increasingly important in Spain in the years ahead. The growing complexity of supply chains, dependence on technology and the need to safeguard operational continuity mean that many companies are taking a fresh look at how prepared they are for disruptive scenarios.
This is an area with considerable development potential. At the same time, this segment of the Spanish market is still relatively immature.”
