Compliance And Ethics In Digital Age: Building Trust in a Changing Landscape
In the aftermath of the pandemic, businesses find themselves fast-tracked to adopting technology out of necessity. Newer business models and hybrid setups of working have not only changed how we work but also necessitated regulating the new ways of working. One could say that compliance with ever-increasing laws was onerous for India Inc. before the pandemic with an increasing thrust on transparency and accountability. However, businesses now have the added complexity of technology to deal with when it comes to getting compliant ready amid the evolving regulatory landscape.
Protecting confidential information and data breaches are day-to-day challenges
Opening the discussion at the BW People HR Excellence Summit And Awards 2023, Amar Kumar Sundaram, General Counsel-Sr.Vice–President (Legal) & Chief Compliance Officer–NEC Corporation India, pointed towards the issues and vulnerabilities of technological advancement for organisations. Protecting confidential information and data breaches are day-to-day challenges organisations are facing. And the aspect of social media has been posing questions for corporates every day.
To put things into perspective, in January 2022, it was reported that SEC and CFTC fined JP Morgan for not Monitoring Employee business communication on WhatsApp.
AI is getting adaptive very fast
AI is getting adaptive very fast. No one could have imagined that ChatGPT would become a mainstream talking point within a matter of days. While digital technology has helped us in big ways, routine tasks are getting automated but compliance in the digital age poses glaring questions.
"From an element of bias in writing algorithms and control over the coding function to ultimately fixing accountability and liability, the human angle is something which we need to look at," says Raj Gupta, Author & GM HR, TCS. In such a scenario, the authenticity of the data becomes paramount.
A culture of trust among stakeholders paramount
Compliance in the digital age is built around a culture of accountability and transparency. It is for the organisations to build a system of trust among employees so that whenever something goes wrong an employee has the confidence to support his case with facts. Ultimately, building trust among stakeholders boils down to creating a robust and dynamic compliance framework, a framework based on the ethos of transparency, accountability and disclosures.
"It is for organisations to set the standard when it comes to building a culture of compliance and accountability says Abhay Kapoor", Head–HR & Administration, Suzuki Motor Gujarat Pvt Ltd, India.
And while creating an adaptive compliance framework, it is also imperative to keep in mind the aspect of behavioural ethics when it comes to AI, as Aditya Kohli, CHRO, Orient Electric, points out, "an individual ethical view is different from a group ethical view and the aspect of behavioural ethics and AI is not as talked about"
