Portable was approached by Jak Dyer, a pioneering, and ambitious start-up founder who had a vision for a solution that could better support whistleblowers in making public disclosures.
We were captivated by the idea and, given the urgent need to address the systemic failures of whistleblower protections in Australia, we jumped at the opportunity to support bringing this concept solution to life.
The Opportunity
Large-scale corporate wrongdoing and industry-wide scandals are increasing in scale and societal impact despite many companies making more commitments to Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) practices.
Whistleblowers are supposed to reveal corporate crimes, but the current process and protections are riddled with legal complexity. The legal system punishes whistleblowers who act in the public interest instead of protecting them, a lack of transparency enables corporate crime to flourish, and regulatory agencies are not enforcing laws against powerful companies and industries within their jurisdictions. Moreover, many of the people who have blown the whistle tend to be white men.
Our hypothesis is that there are many, many more people who have not spoken up because they feel alone, don’t know what their options are and are too afraid to risk everything.
Our Approach
The design challenge that we framed for ourselves following a brief discovery phase focused on not just addressing the problem with the status quo but encouraged us to think about the bigger picture:
How might we develop a secure and trusted ecosystem so that employees reporting public disclosures can do so with confidence?
This led to focusing on key pieces of functionality, including...
- Supporting a trusted and secure method for conducting the process
- Collecting evidence that can be fed into any regulatory bodies
- Verification as to what is claimed
- Providing clear audit trails
- Presenting who to speak to and where to go for further help
- Informing whistleblowers of their rights and entitlements
- Collecting the right data at the right time
Over a series of weeks, we worked with Jak to develop TrustNet – a concept solution that will empower whistleblowers to speak up and enable companies (and regulators) to take action on verifiable and traceable evidence swiftly.
Outcomes
The Whistleblowing software market is set to grow at a rate of 9.6% to reach over AUD$230 million from 2020 - 2027 and in December 2019, NAVEX Global announced the acquisition of WhistleB, an innovative solution provider based in Stockholm. The market is growing and lucrative.
By supporting Jak in developing the initial concept, he is now in a position to confidently speak to investors about how this solution has the potential to transform industries unable to tackle complex or challenging issues on their own by empowering and protecting whistleblowers so that more will speak up and take action.
Reflections
This is an area that is in desperate need of a solution that can better support and protect those who take the brave and often risky step to speak up when they see something that’s not right.
Whistleblower protections are failing Australians and we’re not seeing change fast enough. I look forward to seeing TrustNet under Jak’s passionate leadership be the successful product it has the potential to be and empower people to blow the whistle with confidence.
- Emily MacLoud, Senior Design Strategist
Team
- Emily MacLoud, Senior Design Strategist
- Sophie Turner, Lead Design Strategist
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