From Risk Insight to Insurability: Why Resilience Now Must Be Evidenced

Insurability and resilience depend on visibility, preparation and the ability to evidence how risk is being managed in real time.

Insurability is increasingly becoming a test of evidence. Organisations can no longer rely on broad statements of resilience, static risk registers, or assumptions that insurance capacity will always be available on the same terms. Insurers, investors, lenders, and partners increasingly want to see how risk is understood, how vulnerabilities are being addressed, and how resilience can be demonstrated in practice.

YAVA and Compass Point Assist’s partnership is built around that gap. Compass Point Assist brings insurance market insight, practical risk strategy, resilience planning, and crisis readiness expertise. YAVA brings the technical and engineering capability to assess, improve, and evidence operational systems on the ground.

Here, Mike O’Halloran (O’H), Head of Risk Strategy at Compass Point Assist, explains how the insurance conversation is changing, what gives insurers confidence, and why organisations now need to move from risk awareness to risk improvement, and from risk improvement to stronger insurability.

Introduction: Resilience in an Evidence-Led Insurance Market

For organisations operating across infrastructure, hospitality, logistics, energy, and complex travel environments, risk is becoming harder to separate into neat categories.

A geopolitical event can affect business travel, supply chains, site access, employee safety, infrastructure resilience, and crisis response at the same time. A cyber incident can become an operational disruption. A climate event can expose weaknesses in physical assets, continuity planning, and insurance assumptions.

YAVA has explored this wider shift before in its article with SF Group on the new maritime security threat picture, where fast-moving threats across the Gulf, East Africa, and the Indian Ocean showed the limits of static security models and periodic reporting.

The same principle applies to insurability. If an organisation cannot evidence its risk posture, it becomes harder for insurers and underwriters to understand the quality of that risk. If vulnerabilities are known but unresolved, renewal conversations can become more difficult. If operational visibility is limited, confidence falls.

Compass Point Assist helps clients understand the operational risks behind the insurance challenge and shape the evidence needed to support a stronger market conversation. YAVA helps deliver the technology, infrastructure, and site-level improvements that make that evidence credible. 

Together, the partnership helps clients show that risk is being actively managed, not simply transferred.

The Insurability Pressure Landscape: Three Forces Changing the Market

Natural Catastrophe and Climate Risk: Losses Are Becoming Harder to Absorb

Insurance markets are under growing pressure from the scale and frequency of natural catastrophe losses. Swiss Re Institute reported that natural catastrophes caused $107 billion in insured losses in 2025. It also warned that if losses follow the long-term trend, insured natural catastrophe losses are likely to reach $148 billion in 2026.

For organisations with exposed property, infrastructure, energy assets, logistics networks, or operations in climate-sensitive regions, this increases scrutiny around preparedness. Underwriters need to understand what is exposed, what has been assessed, what has been strengthened, and how quickly the organisation can respond when disruption occurs.

Climate and weather risk also make resilience harder to evidence through documentation alone. Asset schedules, policy documents, and broad continuity plans are useful, but they do not always show whether operational systems, site infrastructure and response mechanisms can withstand real disruption.

Geopolitical and Travel Risk: Duty of Care is Becoming More Operational

Business travel and international operations are becoming harder to manage with static policies alone. Marsh’s Political Risk Report 2026 highlights a new era of heightened geopolitical complexity, where conflict, regulatory fragmentation and infrastructure disruption are increasing uncertainty for organisations operating across borders

For organisations with travelling employees, overseas projects, dispersed assets, or operations in complex environments, this is a practical challenge. A single event can affect employee safety, site access, supply chains, medical support, evacuation planning, and crisis response.

This changes the role insurance can play. In higher-risk environments, cover is more valuable when it is connected to tailored services, live support, and clear response mechanisms. The business traveller dynamic has changed, and organisations need to show how they will support people when conditions shift.

Cyber and Operational Systems: Digital Exposure is Now Part of Physical Resilience

Cyber risk has moved into the operational environment. Allianz Risk Barometer 2026 ranks cyber incidents as the top global business risk for the fifth consecutive year, while Airmic’s 2025 member survey points to an interconnected risk landscape shaped by technology, AI and cyber exposure, geopolitics, emerging risk, natural catastrophe, climate, and weather.

For infrastructure, hospitality, logistics, energy, and complex operating environments, cyber risk is no longer only an IT issue. It can affect communications, surveillance, access control, operational technology, safety systems, and business continuity.

That makes technical remediation and system visibility part of the resilience evidence that insurers and stakeholders increasingly expect to see. Where digital systems support physical operations, the quality of those systems becomes part of the risk profile.

The Conversation: Mike O’H, Head of Risk Strategy at Compass Point Assist

Mike O'H, Head of Risk Strategy, Compass Point Assist.

What follows is an edited conversation with Mike O’H, Head of Risk Strategy at Compass Point Assist. The discussion covers how the insurance market is evolving, where organisations often fall short on evidence, how proactive risk management can support renewal discussions, and where YAVA’s delivery capability becomes critical.

The conversation also explores why resilience now has to be evidenced through practical action, not only described through policies, plans, insurance documentation or static risk registers.

Across the sectors Compass Point Assist works with, how has the insurance conversation changed over the last few years?

Are clients now being asked to provide more evidence of resilience before cover, renewal or investment decisions can move forward?

O’H is careful to avoid treating the insurance market as a single, uniform market.

Some large insurers remain focused on volume, with innovation concentrated around AI underwriting or M&A activity. Others are more interested in practical innovation that can reduce claims exposure and improve the quality of risk.

“There are some fantastic insurers who really do want to innovate at a practical level, but doing so in a soft market is difficult when lower rates are of more interest to many buyers.”

— Mike O’H, Head of Risk Strategy, Compass Point Assist

Market conditions matter. In a soft market, lower rates often dominate the buying conversation. In a hard market, premium increases can create more room to fund innovation, especially where proactive risk management can reduce claims risk and improve insurer loss ratios.

“In a hard market, premium increases can fund innovation, and integrating appropriate proactive risk management can really reduce the claims risk.”

— Mike O’H, Head of Risk Strategy, Compass Point Assist

For O’H, that is where insurance can start to play a different role. It can support the organisation before, during and after an incident, rather than functioning only as a financial response once a crisis or emergency has occurred.

Where do you see the biggest gap today between how organisations describe their risk posture and what insurers or underwriters need to see?

One of the biggest gaps appears when insurance and operational risk management sit separately.

When the two are disconnected, insurance becomes a pot of money for the corporation to dip into when a crisis or emergency hits. Risk is managed through the premium, and that premium may increase in line with claims experience.

O’H sees a stronger model emerging, particularly for organisations with more complex exposures.

“Imagine when an insurance product enabled safe travel with a tailored suite of services, or proactive security risk management aimed to reduce or negate claims.”

— Mike O’H, Head of Risk Strategy, Compass Point Assist

That model connects insurance with practical operational support. In travel, it could mean services designed around the specific risk profile of the traveller, destination and organisation, rather than generalised additions that do not change outcomes. In security risk management, it could mean proactive support designed to reduce the likelihood or severity of claims.

“Insurance can become an operational support structure organisations could rely on; with unified response mechanisms should things go wrong.”

— Mike O’H, Head of Risk Strategy, Compass Point Assist

O’H adds that this model must be applied selectively.

“It won’t always fit. Proactive risk management will never be wanted or required for low-risk exposure.”

— Mike O’H, Head of Risk Strategy, Compass Point Assist

The value is greatest where the operating environment is complex enough for preparation, visibility, and response capability to make a material difference.

Compass Point Assist sits close to the insurance market and understands what gives insurers confidence. What types of operational evidence, technical remediation, or resilience planning most clearly improve a client’s position?

The insurance market does not expect organisations to eliminate every risk. It needs confidence that risks are understood and being managed properly.

O’H’s view is that preparation often matters more than the appearance of a clean risk profile.

“Insurers don't expect perfection. They look for evidence that an organisation knows where its risks are, that they have taken reasonable steps to reduce them, and can solve an incident when it occurs. The biggest differentiator is often not the absence of risk, but the quality of preparation.”

— Mike O’H, Head of Risk Strategy, Compass Point Assist

For clients, that changes the task. Resilience must be demonstrated through practical signals. Those signals might include better operational visibility, clearer crisis escalation, tested response plans, travel risk procedures, site assessments, infrastructure remediation, system upgrades, or stronger controls around critical assets.

Compass Point Assist understands what insurers and underwriters need to see. YAVA becomes important where evidence depends on technical implementation. If a client needs to assess infrastructure, integrate systems, improve operational visibility, or strengthen site-level resilience, the credibility of the insurance story depends on delivery.

Many organisations know they have risks, but struggle to convert that insight into action. Why is the partnership with YAVA important in closing that gap between advisory, underwriting requirements and practical delivery?

Many organisations know they have risks. The harder part is converting that insight into practical improvement.

O’H frames this as an enterprise risk management problem. Individual stakeholders may perform well inside their own areas of responsibility, while the wider risk picture remains fragmented. Insurance, resilience, crisis response, technology, security, and operations all need to connect if risk management is going to support strategic aims.

“Stakeholders need to excel in their own fields, but also to communicate to achieve the strategic aims of true risk management.”

— Mike O’H, Head of Risk Strategy, Compass Point Assist

This is where the Compass Point Assist and YAVA partnership has practical value. Compass Point Assist can identify what needs to be evidenced for the insurance market and support the operational risk strategy behind it. YAVA can deliver the technical and engineering work required to improve the underlying risk position.

Insight alone rarely changes an insurer’s view. Evidence of action does.

If geopolitical events and past claims history causes difficulties around renewal, how can Compass Point Assist help and what would that assistance look like?

Difficult renewals can arise from many sources: geopolitical events, claims history, limited operational visibility, poor preparedness, weak infrastructure confidence or concerns around insurability.

Compass Point Assist supports clients in these situations by helping them evidence control, preparedness and resilience. It works with specialist brokers on insurer-facing risk strategy, programme design and communication of risk improvements. The aim is to present a credible, evidence-based view of how exposures are being managed, giving insurers greater confidence during renewal discussions.

Compass Point Assist does not act as the broker and does not provide regulated insurance advice. That responsibility remains with the appointed specialist broker. Its role is to focus on the operational risk, resilience, crisis readiness and evidence development that sit behind the insurance challenge.

YAVA becomes critical where a client needs practical delivery. Compass Point Assist may help define what insurers need to see. YAVA supports the implementation of resilience measures on the ground.

This distinction is important. Risk transfer remains part of insurance. But where market confidence is under pressure, clients need to show that they are also reducing, controlling and preparing for risk.

If a client came to Compass Point Assist with a difficult renewal, limited operational visibility, or concerns around insurability, what would the first 30 to 90 days of support look like? Where does Compass Point lead, and where does YAVA’s delivery capability become critical?

For a client facing a difficult renewal, limited operational visibility, or concerns around insurability, the first phase is about understanding the operational risk behind the insurance challenge.

Compass Point Assist leads on operational risk, resilience, crisis readiness, and evidence development. That could include reviewing the current risk posture, identifying gaps, clarifying what insurers are likely to need, and shaping a practical improvement plan with the appointed broker.

YAVA supports the technical site-level capability needed to assess, improve, and evidence critical infrastructure. Depending on the client’s environment, this could include reviewing operational systems, identifying weaknesses in infrastructure or visibility, improving data flows, supporting technology remediation, or integrating systems that help evidence control.

“Together, we help clients demonstrate that risk is being managed, not simply transferred.”

— Mike O’H, Head of Risk Strategy, Compass Point Assist

The objective over the first 30 to 90 days is to create a clearer and stronger risk profile. That profile supports operational performance and helps the appointed broker present a more credible case to insurers.

Where YAVA Fits: Making Resilience Visible

YAVA provides the technology layer that helps turn risk strategy into operational evidence.

As a technology engineering and advisory company, YAVA designs, builds, integrates, and supports systems spanning enterprise IT, custom software, cybersecurity, operational technology, data systems, surveillance infrastructure, secure communications, and on-the-ground deployment across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia.

Those capabilities matter because many organisations face risk in environments where visibility is limited, and systems have grown in layers over time. Insurers may want evidence, but the organisation may lack the technical capability to show its risk position clearly or demonstrate that improvements have been delivered. 

YAVA helps close that gap. It can support assessments, systems integration, infrastructure upgrades, and the operational technology needed to make risk visible, manageable, and demonstrable.

Compass Point Assist shapes the insurance-facing risk story. YAVA helps build and evidence the operational capability behind it.

What This Means for Clients

Organisations with complex exposure will increasingly need to evidence resilience. That pressure may come from insurers during renewal, from investors during due diligence, from lenders assessing operational risk, from partners reviewing exposure, or from leadership responding to duty-of-care obligations.

The Compass Point Assist and YAVA partnership brings together two capabilities that increasingly need to work together: understanding what gives the insurance market confidence and delivering the operational improvements that create that confidence.

For clients, the value lies in a more connected model of resilience. Risk insight can lead to practical improvement. Practical improvement can lead to stronger insurability. Stronger insurability can support more confident operations in environments where uncertainty has become part of the operating reality.

Speak to YAVA about your Security, Technology or Infrastructure Requirements 

Whether you are reviewing your operating posture in a complex environment, assessing your technology infrastructure, or exploring integrated security and digital support for a critical project, YAVA and Compass Point Assist offer a combined capability built for the conditions that now exist.

Email us at media@yava.com or contact us via www.yava.com/contactus.

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