Whistleblowing and Incident Management Best Practices

An effective process for handling whistleblowing and a strong incident management system are necessary strategic advantages for organizations. The core elements of an incident management process are a flexible intake system that helps people to submit complaints; consistent processes that can automate as many investigative steps as possible; and data analytics capability that helps managers to study issues in aggregate, and then make improvements to policies, procedures, and controls. Above all, however, compliance officers should build a compelling business case to invest in robust incident management systems. Such systems don’t just satisfy regulatory expectations for a compliance program (although they definitely are necessary to satisfy those expectations). Fundamentally, they help the company to manage and resolve issues more quickly, so executives won’t be distracted from business objectives.