Proactive Monitoring Helps Protect Reputations and Cut Costs
Proactive Monitoring Helps Protect Reputations and Cut Costs
May/June Edition, 2007: Don't let anyone tell you that insider trading isn't serious. Anyone found guilty of insider trading can be fined up to $220,000 and sentenced to up to five years' jail for every count.
If an employee is charged and/or found guilty, it reflects badly on the company with certain damage to its reputation as the case goes through the courts (often for years). And because this damage is usually reflected in the share price, directors, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders are all affected.
However, technology does provide an answer for companies that value their hard-earned and respected reputations: proactive monitoring.
Organisations that have Records Compliance Management (RCM) software installed are able to centrally supervise emails and instant messages to quickly identify suspicious, confidential and inappropriate content.
"This is an important tool that every company should have so they can find and stop insider trading, sexual harassment and other workplace relations issues before they blow up to become a legal issue," said David Thompson, Vice President Asia Pacific, AXS-One.
"Proactive monitoring and surveillance of emails, their attachments and instant messages allows administrators to search for keywords such as "shares", "acquisition", "takeover" "purchase order" and even the name/ASX code of companies being discussed confidentially at board level.
"By finding culprits involved in divulging confidential information and acting upon such knowledge illegally, an RCM solution can provide upfront protection for employers who can then investigate abuses and anomalies before they take hold.
"Importantly, proactive monitoring doesn't just benefit the employer; it provides protection for employees as well, so it works both ways," said Thompson.
Prior to implementing a proactive email/IM monitoring strategy, employers and IT administrators do have to be mindful of legislation that governs this practice. For example, the NSW Workplace Surveillance Act 2005 requires employees to be advised of the organisation's policy on surveillance before it is implemented. The Bill is available online at http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/NSWBills.nsf/0/941266a03e...$FILE/b04-027-20-p02.pdf
"Because a preventative measure is readily available, it is bad management to risk the cost — both in monetary terms and reputation — of not having a proactive monitoring strategy delivered through a Records Compliance Management solution," Thompson added.Further information is available at www.axsone.com.au