Risk Mitigation, Compliance and Good Corporate Governance

Effective corporate governance cannot be achieved without the implementation of a sound enterprise risk management strategy and supporting system. A risk management strategy that ensures compliance with the prescriptive measures that govern and control the market, credit, business operations and legislative landscape is a critical business value driver. Such a strategy also ensures compliance with the punitive measures imposed by legislation and industry regulations.

Over the last few years organisations have been inundated by legislation as new Acts are promulgated around risk management, compliance and corporate governance. And there are often heavy fines imposed if these regulations are not adhered to. As a result, many companies implement ‘stop-gap’ solutions and processes to ensure compliance under the threat of being fined or imprisoned. This narrow view has resulted in many companies perceiving the acquisition of technology to mitigate these risks as a ‘grudge’ purchase.

It is only when compliance is sensibly integrated within a risk management and corporate governance framework that the true value of compliance can be measured in terms of the benefits it brings the organisation and its supply chain, not least the assurance it offers to its shareholders.

Creating Value through Compliance

Compliance that is part of a holistic risk management strategy is a value creator. By taking a risk intelligent approach, you are not simply protecting your business and its assets, but using your internal processes, information and underpinning technology to create business value, increase competitiveness, improve operating margins and optimise the business, saving money by doing things the right way.  The combination of these benefits clearly improves the brand of the organisation, stakeholder engagement as well as notches up the share price as the case may be.

Communication is Key

Communication is a vital aspect of any business, as daily interactions are essential to the operations, administration and management of an organisation. Managing the risks associated with communication is particularly applicable in the transaction management environment, where -  from a legislative point of view - acts such as RICA, FICA and FAIS have all had an impact on communications and in particular on the keeping and management of various records and contracts.

RICA for example, regulates the interception of communication, and stipulates certain types of voice communications that need to be recorded and stored. Similarly, FICA requires all transactions, including telephonic and online interactions with financial institutions, to be kept for a minimum of five years. FAIS is designed to protect the rights of people to sound financial advice, and requires that all financial transactions, including any financial advice given, conducted over the telephone need, to be stored for five years after the termination of contracts.

Outside of the legislative landscape, industry related codes of practice such as King III, Solvency II, Basel II and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) each carry its own set of prescriptive and even punitive measures to regulate and guide its members who operate in the transaction management environment to good corporate governance and sound risk management.

Technology Underpins Compliance and Risk Mitigation

Technological and software advances can underpin compliance to many regulations and codes of practice, including those mentioned above. Within the transaction management environment, technologies such as screen recording and voice recording are vital to ensure compliance, as proof of transactions and records of telephonic transactions and associated on-screen activities need to be maintained.

Being compliant with legislation, regulation, codes of good business practices and even internal company policies greatly ensures liability protection - an essential element of the risk management strategy. In the event of a dispute over a transaction, the credibility of the evidence produced - be it a voice or screen transaction - cannot be questioned and it should be possible to prove that this evidence was not tampered with. At DataVoice, we believe that technology should be used to create an environment where transactions are effectively managed to not only comply with legislation, but also to reduce liability in terms of contracts, fraud management, and confidentiality being breached.

A good risk management strategy will also ensure the protection of one of a company’s biggest assets, its people. The management of the risks associated with human capital is of vital importance, as these risks often pose an enormous threat to business operations.

Spescom has the solution

Spescom’s proprietary solutions assist organisations to address the external and internal risks associated with essential business value drivers such as communication, information security and business continuity by applying cutting-edge technology in areas such as performance management, workforce optimisation, quality assurance, transaction recording and long-term archiving, all of which combined, influence good corporate governance.

Spescom DataVoice’s Libra voice recorder with incorporated screen recording helps organisations to comply with various legislation that require record keeping while at the same time, providing tamper-proof evidence to lower business risk and liability.

In a business environment where a single transaction could be worth millions of rand, business confidence is extremely important to your customers. Voice and screen technology recording mitigates the risks associated with reputation and business confidence; customers feel rest assured about the safety of their information, investments and other important assets left in your care.

This technology underpins Libra Mobile, which provides enterprise-level mobile voice recording, keeping records of transactions conducted over cellular phones. Conversations that contain transactional information or advice which may have legal implications are downloaded onto a Libra recorder server which enables access to this information at enterprise level.

ReMo, also developed by Spescom, is a downloadable application for mobile phones, designed to provide mobile recording for organisations that do not need enterprise class solutions or cannot justify the expense of a recording server at the business. It is a hosted service which stores phone conversations, text messages and captured images in a Web based vault that can be accessed only by permissioned people. This technology addresses the compliance requirements faced by e.g. independent insurance, financial or stock brokers, who conduct a significant portion of their business from their mobile office.

Qnique is Spescom DataVoice’s performance management suite. It is designed to assist organisations with human capital risk management. It addresses the performance of contact centre agents allowing organisations to monitor, manage and take remedial action where necessary. This mitigates the risk of customer attrition due to poor service levels.  This suite caters for unbiased performance assessments and auditing built on fair labour practice, a recruitment package that takes much of the guesswork out of the staff selection process, an e-learning and skills development tool that adheres to NQF standards and a client feedback and quality evaluation system. It not only meets the employer’s needs and requirements but also the needs of their employees. Qnique ensures that the employer and employee developmental needs are met and they are incentivised on good performance evaluations which are based on measureable, industry accepted criteria.  This fosters loyalty and minimised agent attrition.

Partnering to Make Business Better

Spescom is a Silver Patron of the Corporate Governance Framework (CGF) Research Institute. This partnership is designed to help businesses throughout South Africa harness the true benefits of risk mitigation, compliance and corporate governance. 

CGF is a leading local provider of governance, risk and compliance reporting and advisory services. Through Spescom’s strategic alliance with CGF, the company’s divisions can keep up to date on important governance, risk and compliance related information and regulations. This information is used within Spescom’s executive and business line management as an invaluable tool to improve the company’s awareness and understanding of governance, risk and compliance matters.  Clearly, this information and its application have positive affects not only within Spescom’s internal business processes and employees, but also tremendous spin-offs for Spescom’s customers.  Overall, whilst applying good governance and managing the company’s risk more intelligently is paramount for Spescom, its customers are also deriving benefits as they make use of products which are designed to improve their own risk management and compliance practices.

The Spescom Difference

Spescom’s products and solutions are underpinned by and tested on sound governance practices. Through its partnership with CGF, the company ensures that all of its products, methodologies, solution definitions, implementation and commissioning are firmly rooted in sound governance principles and practices.

For additional information on risk mitigation, compliance and corporate governance, visit www.cgf.co.za or www.corporategovernance.co.za