How ASC transformed risk management across the organization with Predict!

Introduction

ASC takes a comprehensive, system-wide approach to risk management—an essential foundation for building long-term resilience while driving innovation and improvement within its complex relationship with Defence and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

Its risk management strategy also informs decision-making for future contracts, including the Hunter Class Future Frigates and Offshore Patrol Vessels, to be built in the ASC Shipbuilding shipyard.

With Predict!, ASC transformed its approach to business management by developing a proactive risk and opportunity strategy. The result was a fundamental shift in how the company approached risk at every level—from encouraging board and executive leaders to use risk in a positive way to reshaping behaviors across teams.

At the core, risk became a clear and shared expectation across the entire workforce. Predict! helped embed this mindset across the business—making risk part of every decision, discussion, and delivery.

The challenge

The ASC risk team, led by Risk and Insurance Manager Kirsty Coll, was spending significant time supporting project-level teams with day-to-day risk data handling.

ASC needed to improve user engagement and establish a more unified approach. With more than 2,000 employees across three sites, it was critical that all behaviors and strategies related to risk be included in the change process.

Delivering complex submarine and warship platforms means managing vast interdependencies—timelines, political stakeholders, intellectual property, and an extended supply chain.

To build a true risk culture, ASC recognized the need to educate all staff—not just at the project level, but across the executive and board. Driving alignment would require more than updates or reports; it meant turning risk into an ongoing conversation and a shared awareness woven into every agenda.

The solution

To ensure risk could be effectively understood and managed across a complex environment, ASC partnered with the Predict! team to implement a risk management system fully integrated into its existing business framework.

Creating a robust framework with Predict! supported major transitions, including ASC’s reorganization and preparation for the Collins Class Submarine Sustainment and Support contract, the Offshore Patrol Vessel construction, and SEA 5000 (Hunter Class Anti-Submarine Frigates).

By adopting a comprehensive framework—and pairing it with the right risk management system—ASC has been able to build capacity for both current operations and future defense contracts.

With Predict!, ASC brought a new level of executive awareness, governance, and oversight to every risk touchpoint, reinforcing continuous improvement as a core value of the organization.

Because Predict! is simple to use, it quickly drove engagement, collaboration, and adoption across teams. That ease of use meant Coll’s team could shift its focus—from helping people navigate the system to helping them identify opportunities and act confidently within the risk framework we helped create.

The results

Improved decision-making has been one of ASC’s biggest gains. With real-time data and a questioning mindset encouraged across the business, employees are now equipped to disclose and manage risk transparently at every level.

ASC built a method to assess each team’s risk maturity, giving senior leaders the visibility to act early and guide alignment across programs. Having this live information enabled senior managers to act proactively and encourage their teams’ engagement with the risk management aims of the business.

Risk strategy is now fully aligned with board-level priorities, shifting risk from a compliance task to a strategic enabler.

A formal ‘risk team’—including the CEO, board, and executives—meets regularly to keep risk visible and integrated across the organization. It’s no longer siloed, embedded into business continuity, disaster recovery, cybersecurity, and more.

Today, ASC is more resilient, more aligned, and better prepared to deliver on its national defense commitments.