Convercent Announces Enhanced Conflicts of Interest Management Tool

DENVER, CO--(Marketwired - Mar 9, 2016) - Convercent, the leading provider of compliance management and analytics software, today announced the introduction of its Conflicts of Interest (COI) Manager version 2.0 that drastically improves the way disclosures are made, managed and monitored. The enhanced COI manager pairs standardization with configurability -- providing compliance teams with a scalable way to address, solicit, capture, assess and monitor disclosures for the unique types of conflicts of interest facing their employees at all levels of the organization.

"If you are still sending out paper or online questionnaires to employees asking them to disclose any conflicts on an annual basis, then you are missing an incredible opportunity to uncover and mitigate real risk in your organization," says Philip Winterburn, Chief Product Officer at Convercent. "The remarkable thing about COI 2.0 is how quickly -- and easily -- it can elevate a company's approach to managing this critical risk area. COI 2.0 gives organizations even more control and defensibility around their disclosure process by allowing them to customize conflict types, questionnaires, clearance templates and requirements for disclosure updates and clearance attestations." 

The challenge:
The pervasiveness of COIs and the misconduct they can breed routinely place among the top risk areas for companies of all shapes and sizes. However, the rudimentary way most companies address that risk is inadequate given its severity. COIs are the third most commonly observed type of misconduct, according to the 2013 National Business Ethics Survey (NBES), with only 49 percent of workers who observe COI misconduct reporting what they see. A combined 74 percent of companies use internal/desktop tools, or none at all, to manage COIs, according to the 2015 Compliance Trends Survey from Deloitte and Compliance Week, which reveals the lack of sophistication around managing this risk area.

Highlights of Convercent Conflicts of Interest 2.0

• Link to Policies - prompt employees to make disclosures at the same time they attest to a COI policy or Code of Conduct, capturing disclosures while employees have a clear understanding of COIs.
• Targeted Disclosures - configure and collect different COIs for different employees to reduce irrelevant disclosures.
• Customization - customize disclosure questionnaires based on conflict types.
• Clearance Conditions - provide admins with approved templates for issuing clearances and get employees to attest to clearance conditions.
• Declinations - keep track of when employees don't have conflicts to disclose and more easily distinguish between employees without conflicts and those who have yet to make their disclosures.
• Approvals - require additional approval layers for high-risk COIs.

ABOUT CONVERCENT
Convercent's risk-based global compliance solution enables the design, implementation and measurement of an effective compliance program. Delivering an intuitive user experience with actionable executive reporting, Convercent integrates the management of corporate compliance risks, cases, disclosures, training and policies. With hundreds of customers in more than 130 countries -- including Philip Morris International, CH2M Hill and Under Armour -- Convercent's award-winning GRC solution safeguards the financial and reputational health of your company. Backed by Azure Capital, Sapphire Ventures (formerly SAP Ventures), Mantucket Capital and Rho Capital Partners, and based in Denver, Colorado, Convercent will revolutionize your company's compliance program.