When productivity is also factored in, this increases further, and the impact on individuals can be devastating.

Furthermore, just over one in ten employees globally say that they work in a strong ethical workplace culture. Despite this, misconduct continues to go underreported, meaning that many of these challenges could be addressed before they become a crisis. 

In today’s ever-evolving corporate landscape, fostering a culture where employees feel empowered to report misconduct or any ethical breaches is paramount in order to build a robust speak-up culture that goes beyond risk mitigation and towards Active Integrity. This article examines how companies can effectively harness technology to cultivate a speak-up culture that tackles this issue head-on.

1. Modernize reporting channels for greater accessibility and inclusivity

Understanding employees’ diverse preferences in reporting misconduct is crucial. Each individual has their comfort level and preferred method of communication and this could range from reporting an incident via a voice call, speaking to their manager directly in a one-on-one meeting, or the choice of anonymity with the use of a mobile app or desktop-based tool.

Offering multiple channels for reporting ensures accessibility and inclusivity, demonstrating a commitment to hearing and valuing every voice. Furthermore, when you use a platform that captures reports consistently regardless of reporting method, you’re able to accelerate time to resolution

2. Use Artificial Intelligence-powered technology to streamline the speak-up process

AI is already playing an important role in fostering transparent, ethical, and compliant practices across diverse organizational functions. However, in ethics and compliance it has lagged behind. Until recently there has been a reliance on legacy hotlines for misconduct reporting and data analysis in the space has been more of a guessing game.

AI tools are able to streamline reporting processes, ensuring confidentiality, efficiency, and transparency. 

For example, language barriers should never hinder employees from reporting misconduct, so implementing a tool that instantly translates reports into multiple languages can improve efficiency in case resolution and create a more inclusive environment.

Another convenient solution is AI-powered voice-to-text transcription technology. By offering employees the option to report incidents via a short phone call, which is then converted into text format, accuracy and confidentiality can be maintained throughout the reporting process, making it easier for employees to share their experiences and case managers to accelerate time to resolution. 

3. Use Analytics Tools to Mitigate Risk

Transitioning from reactive to proactive risk mitigation requires aligning every aspect of the business towards integrity. Gaining insight into the ethical health of your organization and the effectiveness of integrity initiatives allows you to identify areas for improvement, ultimately driving accountability and contributing to a healthier work environment. 

Overall, these three strategies empower organizations to foster a culture of Active Integrity, where every employee feels supported in speaking up, and every decision aligns with ethical principles. By embracing technology and analytics, companies can position themselves for long-term success while prioritizing trust, transparency, and accountability.

How can Vault help?

Vault Platform is the operating system for corporate integrity. Find out how we can help you and how we can enhance your Ethics program by booking a quick demo with us.

And if you’d like to hear more about AI and automation in ethics and compliance, watch our on-demand webinar.

The post Three Steps to Build a Tech-Driven Speak-Up Culture appeared first on Vault.

Whether you’re encountering an issue that requires a technical solution, or you’re looking to get the most out of Vault’s Active Integrity Platform, you are more than likely to meet Poppy on your journey. Find out more about why she chose to work here and how her personal values align with Vault’s.

A People-Oriented Problem Solver

Poppy has spent over 10 years working in customer service roles with a specialized focus on technical problem-solving and support. She is focused on delivering user experiences and creating business value through technical enablement. 

“I was drawn to the tech world by its dynamic nature and the constant opportunities for learning. My inclination towards customer support is driven by a genuine desire to directly assist and engage with users, ensuring their success and satisfaction with products. I find joy in interacting with customers and serving as a subject matter expert for technical products.” 

As the Customer Support Engineer, Poppy’s responsibilities are key in enabling Vault’s goal of providing seamless, positive customer experience, and reinforcing the company’s values of customer-centricity and technical excellence. 

A New Challenge at Vault

Over the past decade Poppy has primarily maintained roles revolving around customer support, and since 2020 she’s expanded her expertise to include more technical capabilities. “I have an analytical mindset, I am passionate about software development and thrive on solving problems through technical solutions. Fortunately, my career path has allowed me to strike a harmonious balance between technology and customer service,” adds Poppy. 

Her typical day, beyond direct customer interactions, includes curation of both external and internal documentation for product enablement and process improvement. A key part of successfully executing her responsibilities is to share valuable customer feedback with relevant teams. This ensures that Vault takes a comprehensive approach to product and service enhancements. 

Empathy in a Tech-Driven Environment 

Fostering an environment where teams are encouraged to understand and be sensitive to the feelings, thoughts and experiences of others is no easy task. For Poppy, Vault’s commitment to excellence while maintaining an empathetic, supportive culture make it an exciting place of work. “I appreciate the collaborative and innovative environment. Everyone here works to share their knowledge with others, cares deeply about our customers and works hard to welcome every new Vaultie into the team,” she adds. “Our mission is to shape the way misconduct is handled within the workplace, focusing on empowering the reporter and employer to adopt a speak up culture.” 

“Balancing human connection with technical expertise involves active listening and effective communication. Understanding the customer’s perspective while leveraging technical knowledge allows for a more empathetic and efficient resolution of issues.” 

If you are keen to transition into a Customer Support Engineer position, Poppy advises that you remain curious, embrace continuous learning, and continue to develop your communication skills. “Building a solid foundation of technical knowledge while cultivating empathy for users is key to success in a technical support role.” 

The post Vault Spotlight: Poppy Allen, Vault’s Customer Support Engineer appeared first on Vault.

Nominations are now closed and honorees will be notified in early February.

The post Are you a 2024 Integrity Innovator? appeared first on Vault.

GenAI has been a hot topic throughout 2023, so it seemed fitting to close off the year with this much-anticipated session. In creating and moderating this discussion we sought to cut through the noise surrounding GenAI, and hold our peers’ attention for an hour!

We approached this challenge by:

• Delving into the implications of using AI within business
• Exploring how AI can transform and improve Ethics and Compliance

The key takeaways from our panel were: 

1. Pick the low hanging fruit. “Don’t try to boil the ocean, just dip your toe in.” Tailor your approach to what suits your business. Some examples from our panelists included creating a safe space for compliance to practice asking their questions and getting GenerativeAI responses; building a closed model using 3+ years of data and decision trees; allowing employees to ask and get answers about gifts and entertainment from a Traditional AI bot.

2. Tooling and technology is a high priority for 2024. With most corporations starting to implement some digital Ethics & Compliance solutions, or at least beginning to think about what they could do, most event attendees said that assessing the right tech to support their goals was on their 2024 agenda.

3. Efficiency and gaining insights remain high priority. Chief Ethics and Compliance Officers are most invested in driving operational efficiency of their program as well as gaining access to meaningful data and insights to inform decisions.

4. AI + Ethics = Cost Savings. Practical applications shared included using AI to manage Conflict of Interest programs for corporate gifting; employing AI-enabled dynamic translations for significant time and cost savings during investigations, and introducing an AI-enabled hotline, cutting out middlemen and enhancing trust between reporters and the business, especially in scenarios where reporters wish to remain anonymous.

5. Integrating GenAI into existing jobs. With rising concerns about job displacement, some organizations are creating safe spaces where employees can acquire knowledge and seamlessly integrate GenAI into their responsibilities. This enables them to channel their efforts towards interventions that require their knowledge, experience, and discretion.

Consero’s Corporate Compliance & Ethics Forum provided a platform for deep exploration into this important space, and we’re looking forward to taking these conversations forward into 2024 and beyond!

The post From the experts: How GenAI is transforming Ethics and Compliance appeared first on Vault.

Your teams work best when they collaborate, and so should your systems. With Vault, now your speak-up solution integrates seamlessly with your HR Information System (HRIS) and all legal and compliance tool stacks. We’re delighted to enable over 50 HRIS integrations, including Workday, BambooHR, Azure Active Directory, Google Workspace, Charlie, and more.

Vault’s integrated system improves operational efficiency to activate your entire ecosystem to build a seamless and trusted speak up program. 

View the full 50 integrations on this dedicated page.

Some of the advantages of Vault’s HR integrations include:

• Efficient data management: Automate the flow of employee data into and out of Vault, ensuring accuracy and eliminating human errors. 
• Time-saving automation: Quick and straightforward onboarding and offboarding process, with no more handling spreadsheets of employee data.
• Secure employee access management: Connect seamlessly to employee databases, ensuring secure and efficient access management.

Our HR integrations are ever-expanding, and are supported by the power of Merge’s Unified API. Talk to us about how our new integrations can simplify your speak-up program.

Interested in finding out more about Vault’s solution and the integrations we offer? Fill in the form below and tell us which HR software your team is currently using.

The post Making Speak-Up Seamless with Vault’s HR integrations appeared first on Vault.

Cultivating a Speak-Up culture means enabling your employees to report misconduct in whatever way they feel most comfortable doing so. Whether that is via a mobile app, on their computer, directly to their manager or even via the phone.

In fact research has found that between 6 and 11% of employees still choose to use a hotline when it’s available.

That’s why we’ve launched VaultTalk.

VaultTalk is an AI-enhanced phone intake that empowers individuals to report incidents in a short phone call, answering a series of questions, and then conveniently tracking the progress of their report online.

VaultTalk is unique in a few ways:

• No human intermediary: The phone-based intake option utilizes voice-to-text transcription technology, allowing employees to digitize and submit their reports directly to the company.
• Follow-ups: Easily follow-up on reports with the case manager, even when reporting anonymously.
• Status updates: Track the status of the report and investigation.

If you’re interested in hearing more about VaultTalk, get in touch. If you’d like to watch the full webinar on exploring AI in Ethics and Compliance you can find it here.

The post VaultTalk – AI-enhanced phone intake appeared first on Vault.

The post Webinar: Exploring Artificial Intelligence in Ethics & Compliance appeared first on Vault.

London Stock Exchange, 10 Paternoster Square, London

This in-person panel event will be held at London Stock Exchange where we’ll be joined by Allen & Overy  & Morrow Sodali to discuss trends in the E&C space.

This session will look into how technological advancements are reshaping the ethics and compliance landscape and workforce expectations, and major themes to look out for in 2024. Topics will include AI, data, privacy, insights, and automation, as well as how organisations will need to balance technology with humanity to cultivate psychological safety in their organisations and to manage the impact for the workforce.

Register your interest

The post Tech trends in ethics and compliance for 2024 appeared first on Vault.

Vault Platform customers can now translate any report into one of the 75 languages we support to improve the efficiency of case resolution. This is one of many upcoming AI-powered features Vault is implementing to ensure you have all the tools you need to create a safe working environment for your employees and build a culture of Active Integrity. 

Why is this important?

Many Vault customers are multinational, multilingual organizations that often work in various languages. This new feature can instantly translate reports into a wide range of languages, allowing case managers to understand and work with reports in their preferred language, improving overall efficiency. This also eliminates the need for external translation support, thus protecting sensitive company and personal information. 

How does it work?

With dynamic translations, you’ll find a ‘translate’ option inside every reported event. All you have to do is click this and select the language you wish to translate to. You have 75 to choose from! 

Dynamic Translations is supported by AWS translate and AWS comprehend and leverages the power of AI to provide rapid and convenient translations.

Each time you translate, you’ll find an audit entry logged confirming the name of the reader and the translation language. In order to keep your data intact the translated reports are displayed on-screen and the original report details remain unchanged.

How do I get it?

Already a Vault Platform customer? Just reach out to our team here to find out more about this add-on. If you’re not yet using Vault, drop us a note here and we’ll have a team member get in touch. 

The post Dynamic translations are here! appeared first on Vault.

Have any questions relating to data security, privacy or risk? Ash is your person! Enjoy learning more about Ash and her approach to security at Vault.

Keeping Vault and its customers safe

As Head of Information Security, Ash helps Vault achieve its mission and support its customers through programmatic risk and control management.  This can range from risk assessments of novel technologies, services, or product features to incident management, and business continuity preparedness. 

The infosec function plays a pivotal role in safeguarding the organization’s digital information assets and ensuring the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of sensitive information. 

Vault is proudly certified to the ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II requirements. It has also been recognised by the National Cybersecurity Alliance as a champion organization, for showing dedication to promoting a safer, more secure online world.

An impressive career trajectory

Ash began her career in philanthropy at the University of Oxford, where she did her undergraduate degree. She focused on system design, training, and process development for SaaS applications. Over the past decade, she transitioned into Infosec operations, consultancy, and leadership roles at various organizations, before ultimately joining Vault. Her infosec journey coincided with the introduction of GDPR, and she found satisfaction in translating regulatory requirements into practical solutions for enterprise applications.

Security by Design at Vault

Ash explains:

“Vault takes infosec very seriously, and has done, since day one. We have adopted a ‘Security by Design’ approach to continually develop secure software, with regular internal and external assurance activities to ensure that the reporter and case information for our customers are secure.”

Vault proactively manages security risks to ensure that customer information is handled securely, and it leverages opportunities in a risk appropriate manner. Strategic decision making takes infosec and privacy as key considerations as it has a shared responsibility towards the security, and reputation of its customers as well.

All Vaulties are trained on the prevalent security threats, and controls, as well as specific training relating to their roles. Ash concludes, “We encourage each Vaultie to make risk informed decisions at all levels, so that we can together secure Vault Platform.”

In Vault’s Trust Center you can find information on how Vault manages information security, as well as the latest pen test report, and information on Vault’s security controls. 

Words of advice for prospective infosec leaders

Ash believes that great infosec professionals can come from all backgrounds. She was a linguist previously! What’s needed is the curiosity to understand a problem, and the perseverance to work out the solution. Ash shared:

“This is a key period for the infosec industry as we’re all much more online now post-Covid, than we were at any other point in the past. This also means that our attackers can easily cause more damage as organizations, big and small, are all likely to be affected by cyberthreats as they mature in their information security practices in this new world.”

In the UK, the Government has funded infosec-related training (such as the Certified in Cybersecurity programme) in order to encourage more people to consider Cyber and Information security as a career pathway.

Thank you to Ash for sharing your journey with us! Check back soon for a Spotlight on another Vaultie expert.

The post Vault Spotlight: Ash Mohanaprakas, Vault’s Head of Information Security appeared first on Vault.