Your Crisis Plan Begins Early with Detection of Corporate Bad Behavior

financial markets

As corporate misconduct, such as sexual harassment and discrimination, continues to make headlines, it was no surprise to read in two recent surveys that companies are becoming increasingly focused on preemptively detecting “bad behavior”, from sexual harassment through to fraud.

In today’s internet and social media driven business climate, companies must be vigilant in identifying and mitigating potential crises at the very earliest stages of the issue.

Once the threat becomes public, it has the potential to blow up quickly and move beyond the control of the crisis team.

As companies identify emerging examples of “bad behavior” within their organization they must be prepared to immediately bring a stop to these behaviors, but also appropriately manage the response to what may have already taken place.

Consilio, a global leader in document review, risk management, and legal consulting services, recently conducted a survey of legal professionals, asking about their insights on their own employers’ investment and commitment to monitoring and detecting corporate misconduct.

Fraud was the most common investigation, followed by non-financial bad behaviors such as discrimination, IP theft and sexual harassment. There were plenty of other “bad behaviors” on the list, including price fixing and bribery.

The good news is that 62 percent of the legal professionals said that they are very confident their company is proactively identifying “bad behaviors” that go against the company’s mission.

They also point to increasing investment in the early detection of threats.

Seventy-seven percent believe their companies have either “somewhat” or “to a great extent” increased investment in resources to detect “bad behaviors” that go against the company’s mission.

And it’s risk and crisis technology that is increasingly at the forefront.

In its news release, Consillo quoted Roger Miller, Senior Vice President, who leads its investigations and compliance group: “Having the right technology in place is critical for organizations to broaden the types of workplace wrongdoing they are able to detect” 

So where are companies most likely to preemptively catch “bad behavior”?

Online, of course.

In addition to existing compliance efforts, companies now must have a procedure for monitoring their online reputation to track the first signs of corporate misconduct.

The increasing investment in this type of technology was underlined in another new report, by ratings and reviews firm, Clutch.

It surveyed 224 digital marketers and found that 40 percent of digital marketers monitor their companies’ brand online daily and 46 percent of businesses look to social media most often to monitor their online reputation.

Social media has majorly impacted the importance of online reputation management because it gives consumers free-reign to share their opinions and experiences immediately, frequently and without systematic monitoring.

Organizations that have systems and technology to proactively identify high risk behavior are better positioned to minimize corporate misconduct, improve employee morale, and improve the company’s bottom line.

Clutch predicts nearly 40 percent of businesses will increase their investment in online reputation management this year.

Time to review your own processes and investment in early warning systems!

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