The transposition of the European Directive on the protection of persons reporting breaches of EU law has generated many heated discussions in Romania in recent years. As specialists in business intelligence, we have participated in these discussions since the beginning. Our experience is the experience of professionals who know that most fraud investigations start from an integrity warning, and this has ensured us a place at the table of the most heated discussions about whistleblowing.
In any room where the word “whistleblowing” is said, several perspectives quickly emerge: compliance specialists will want to debate how whistleblowing will affect ethics and compliance systems, HR specialists will think about how they can manage whistleblowing based on the fact that whistleblowers have never enjoyed a good reputation, fraud investigation specialists will quickly make the connection between whistleblowing and occupational fraud, and managers and directors will try to figure out what to do next, given all of the above perspectives. If we also include the legal advisors in this discussion, it seems that we are dealing with a real Rubik’s cube, which takes on a different conformation, depending on who is spinning it.
WIBSO was developed in consideration of the multiple challenges generated by these discussions, by a multidisciplinary, ambitious team eager to bring all the implications of whistleblowing into one place: an integrated whistleblowing solutions system that starts from a reporting platform, but does much more than that. First and foremost, WIBSO stands for whistleblowing solutions, because that’s what we do best: developing innovative, practical and effective solutions, no matter how complex the challenges we face are.
WIBSO is truly unique because our approach was unique, and here’s why:
Our desire was to develop a truly unique product, using the tremendous experience we pride ourselves on in our team. Our fraud investigation and compliance specialists understand first and foremost what the role of whistleblowing is, but also the motivations that lead whistleblowers to step forward and report or disclose sensitive information. Our colleagues specialising in organisational culture and ethics have been able to see whistleblowing as a key element in developing a sustainable business, and our consultants have explained the legislative framework and how we can manage whistleblowing in the safest and most effective way possible. Last but not least, our tech development team ingeniously turned such a complex concept into a digital reality: WIBSO.
First of all, WIBSO is different through its specific vision: an integrated vision that considers integrity warnings (we created a user friendly experience), but also those who will manage the integrity warnings.
Even though integrity warnings may concern companies or public institutions, the handling and management of such warnings is different for private sector companies. This difference is given by the staff responsible for handling whistleblowing warnings, the financial resources available, the links between companies belonging to the same group and, last but not least, the specific effects that an integrity warning generates.
WIBSO has been designed and tailored to meet the specific needs of the private sector which we understand very well.
All integrity warnings have certain common elements, but the legislative approach differs from one country to another, even when it is based on a European Directive. This is because integrity warnings respond to a need regulated at European level, but in a country-specific way.
Last but not least, companies with at least 250 employees (usually part of a group) cannot share resources in terms of receiving, registering and handling integrity warnings. In other words, these companies are forced to develop their own whistleblowing system, within the guidelines of the group to which they belong, but in a way that responds to local requirements and specificities.
Being first and foremost an innovative digital platform, WIBSO has been designed to be easily usable by anyone. The reporting system is user friendly, secure and allows efficient communication with the whistleblower, even when whistleblower identity is not revealed.
At the same time, WIBSO considers those managing integrity reports, because it records whistleblowing reports automatically, takes into account the response deadlines implemented in Romania, organises whistleblowing records and provides you with statistics and automatic classifications of the alerts recorded.
We know that managing integrity warnings is not just about implementing a digital platform – the real challenge starts with the implementation of the subsequent measures. Both the relationship with the whistleblower and the reputation of companies depend on the nature of these measures.
WIBSO has been developed to support companies throughout the entire process of managing whistleblowing reports and our team specialises in monitoring and investigating whistleblowing reports in a way that allows companies to carefully manage the risks involved, limit their exposure and protect their interests.