Organizations are responsible for putting proper GRC measures in place to ensure they can successfully manage compliance with regulations and internal policies. To address these needs, businesses require adequate risk management and analytical measures to guarantee effective GRC. However, keeping a robust GRC program is often challenging as new compliance regulations constantly evolve and new risks arise every year. Moreover, the regulatory environment globally is extremely fluid and diverse. WhistleBlower Security (WBS) specializes in delivering flexible and modern 24/7/365 integrated Hotline and Case Management Ethics Reporting Services for the public, private and not-for-profit organizations around the globe. The company achieves this through regular communications as well as through the functionality of its Integrity Counts reporting platform. “Our Global Ethics Reporting services offers the most human whistleblower experience in the market, a smarter process with faster response times while maintaining anonymity for whistleblowers, leading to better and more effective investigations,” says Shannon Walker, President, WhistleBlower Security.

The company’s advanced platform can direct the client through certain decisions or choices to ensure compliance to the best of their ability. WBS also provides thought leadership regarding compliance, risk management, DEI, and ESG initiatives. With WBS, if employees prefer to file a report online rather than over the phone, they can use the anonymous web-intake portal available in 26 languages. The information provided is instantly populated in the Integrity Counts case management system, so the GRC team has full control over any reported issues. The software provides the necessary tools to analyze the data to gain deeper insights into potential instances of fraud or other misconduct, so management can make informed decisions to help mitigate risk. This provides organizations with the ability to correct any serious issues before creating risks to the company’s bottom line and reputation. “Our case management system provides deeper insight into ethics and compliance risks within the organization and enables a faster and thorough investigation of unethical behavior, bringing instances of misconduct to a close,” explains Shannon.

Promoting a Healthier Workplace Culture

WhistleBlower Security helps clients to create a healthier workplace that promotes a speak-up culture – where employees and stakeholders know their voice is valued and where the organization can successfully leverage this collective voice to maintain high ethical standards, foster employee satisfaction, engagement, and long-term retention. Furthermore, according to WBS, employees are the eyes and ears to uncovering misconduct in an organization. The team identified that oftentimes its employees on the front lines who know about misconduct happening, and they are the ones who bravely choose to come forward to speak up on this misconduct. The WBS call center intake specialists are trained in empathetic and investigative techniques, and this helps them be truly present for whistleblowing employees and provides comfort and a safe place to speak.

Headquartered in Canada, WBS has been dedicated to safeguarding hundreds of organizations against risk and fraud globally while promoting and improving ethical work environments. WBS works with public, private and non-profits to augment, support and enhance cultures of integrity, accountability, and transparency. Walker points to an instance that highlights the company’s value proposition when they assisted a multi-billion-dollar market leader. The executives at this client company had a much higher objective than merely checking off their compliance boxes. The client’s mission was to implement a whistleblower system to ensure that anyone anywhere in the world who saw any wrongdoing could report it immediately without fear of retribution. With WBS, the result was a significant reduction of business risk by empowering employees and customers worldwide to easily and anonymously “see something and say something.”

The Power of a Woman Owned Business

WhistleBlower Security is Women in Business Certified, committed to championing and fostering diversity in its own workplace and in the world of ethics. Moreover, the company is the only ethics hotline services and case management provider to have attained the WBE Canada certification. Another point that makes the company stand out is that WhistleBlower Security is WEConnect International Certified, part of a community of other business owners empowering women to connect with each other and to new market opportunities. As a company, WBS always prefers to engage with and empower all employees, regardless of background, to achieve their full potential. “We are proud to be a part of this community of other business owners empowering women to connect with each other and to new market opportunities,” extols Shannon.

From Inception to Innovation

WBS was born out of the desire to help companies minimize risk by ensuring their policies and practices were working as intended while also giving employees a safe and confidential place to share ethics and compliance-related issues. When publicly traded companies in US and Canada were mandated to receive, review, and respond to anonymous reports, the team knew there was a new service model that needed to be built. The process took almost a year to research and design. Today Whistleblower Security is a global provider of ethics reporting services, including a 24/7/365 Global Ethics Hotline and Case Management platform. These tools foster trust, transparency and even greater productivity within the workplace. “When we initially launched WBS, we did encounter skepticism and some concern that the hotline would just become a place for nuisance calls or complaints. However, the hotline has always been a place of safety and an opportunity for people to speak up,” points out Shannon.

Since opening its doors in 2005, WBS has been a pioneer in providing its cutting-edge solutions and services globally. There is a paradigm shift happening for businesses – one that looks to sustainability, the long-term value and the care and support for employees and clients. WBS is clearly placed in a great space for future growth and expansion.

As part of its growth plan, WBS invests in continuous improvement and refinement of the Integrity Counts reporting platform. With input from clients and outside experts who sit on the other Product Advisory Council, the platform has evolved from a basic intake form to a comprehensive and robust analytical tool that organizations use to identify trends, issues, and resolutions throughout their organization. WhistleBlower Security became B-Corp Certified last year and strives to be an inclusive, equitable employer and help clients become the same. This ethos may have started with Shannon but the entire team at WhistleBlower shows up every day with fresh ideas, enthusiasm and the shared goal of supporting employers and their people regardless of the industry, their size or their location.

Today, the company envisions continuing its expansion and creating a global footprint. “A key focus for us is to acquire clients in the EU as the regulations there are becoming more stringent and definitive for all companies over 50 employees. Key alliances are another important element in our long-term growth plans. Aligning our product with ancillary technologies which add context, insights and support to our core offering is an important piece of the value that we bring to our clients,” concludes Shannon.