Patented risk smoke detector customised to address widespread and underreported intimidating, hostile and offensive work environments

Advanced Discovery,a global eDiscovery and risk management provider, today announced the company has launched a new sexual harassment taxonomy with which to identify and assess patterns of inappropriate workplace behaviour within an organisation’s electronically stored information. The new sexual harassment template is part of the Riskcovery® analytics suite.

Riskcovery is a patented risk management solution built on an industry-leading conceptual analytics technology to capture abstract meanings of written communications, minimising the need for time-consuming manual intervention. It is an early warning risk smoke detector designed to alert corporate governance to the possibility of compliance, ethics and even procedural issues so that organisations can proactively identify and respond to risks in advance of litigation.

According to a recent ABC News/Washington Post survey, 64 percent of Americans consider sexual harassment in the workplace a serious problem. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission estimates that 75 percent of all workplace harassment incidents go unreported. Similar statistics are reported in the U.K., with 52 percent of women having experienced workplace sexual harassment; 79 percent of these incidents are unreported.

“Sexual harassment is bigger than the recent headlines from Hollywood and high-profile executive resignations. It’s a widespread workplace issue with high-impact emotional and financial consequences,” says Jim Burke, CEO of Advanced Discovery. “Inappropriate and illegal workplace behaviour also increases enterprise risk with absenteeism, low productivity and staff turnover, as well as financial settlements and litigation costs.”

Riskcovery can use predefined taxonomies to find and categorise documents based on sample text which contains content with similar concepts of interest, including sexual harassment. The sexual harassment taxonomy can be customised to an organisation’s specific code of conduct, governing law or other relevant input. The solution’s AI-powered analytics engine refines and expands the taxonomy’s predictive capability with additional input and use. Riskcovery connects to email servers and can ingest files from Gmail, OneDrive and Google Drive or from any Windows-based file system. Additionally, ingestion of mobile device data, one of the fastest-growing sources of ESI, including text and chat messages, is supported.

“Risk mitigation means identifying trends and potential violations quickly and efficiently – well before they become costly problems for specific employees and the broader organisation,” concludes Burke.

The sexual harassment taxonomy is one of several Riskcovery conceptual analytic templates, including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and Departed Employee Protocol. Advanced Discovery expert advisors can also consult to create custom taxonomy templates to address a company’s specific GRC requirements.

Company expert advisors will be hosting reservation-only peer-to-peer roundtables at the Warwick New York Hotel during Legalweek to discuss issues and best practices on the topics of harassment and discrimination, cybersecurity and eDiscovery expansion. In addition, they will be offering private product demos of its complete suite of patented and patent-pending solutions, including Riskcovery. To learn more or sign up to participate, visit www.advanceddiscovery.com/events/legaltech-2018-january-30-february-1/