Using Data and Compliance Benchmarking to Improve Programs

ALAN SAUBER

Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, Premier Inc.

The Sphere enables us to identify specific gaps and as a result, spend budget dollars more appropriately to improve our program. In the past, we would make educated guesses about our program gaps, or involve expensive consultants. The Sphere has real value—and it provides the data and context to validate our approach.

– Alan Sauber

Ethics and compliance programs are continually evolving – to address ongoing regulatory updates, and to reflect expectations from investors, employees, and other key stakeholders. The question for many leaders is: how do you keep up with all of these changes?

Given it’s long history of ethics and compliance leadership, we talked with 16-time World’s Most Ethical Companies Honoree Premier Inc’s Alan Sauber about his experiences using The Sphere, Ethisphere’s platform that helps ethics and compliance teams do three things:

1. Benchmark against peers
2. Identify Gaps to prioritize
3. Leverage resources for faster improvements

The Challenge

Premier has a strong program in place, but they also recognized that organizations continue to raise the bar when it comes to ethics and compliance. What is sufficient one year may not be a year later, particularly around issues like ESG. The Board Oversight Committee came to Alan and his team and asked “what are other companies doing”? When ESG became an imperative for their investors and other stakeholders, they knew they needed to adopt a more formal approach to ESG.

The Approach

Alan and his team had looked into The Sphere to benchmark their program and as they prepared their application for the 2023 World’s Most Ethical Companies. The Sphere enables ethics and compliance teams to identify specific gaps and as a result, spend budget dollars more appropriately to improve their program. The team recognized they were able to utilize The Sphere to tackle additional initiatives.

Prior to using The Sphere, the Premier team made educated guesses about areas for improvement or engage expensive consultants to pinpoint program gaps. “Using data in The Sphere, we were able to share how companies are moving directionally on ESG, which has proven to be very helpful–and without the cost of engaging external consultants.”

The Results

The Sphere provided a fast way to effectively benchmark against peers and leading practices. Premier was able to quickly identify areas where others were gaining and had evolving programs, and where they were lagging behind. The data and insights:

1. Identified Improvements
2. Informed Priorities
3. Sharpened Focus

As a 16-time World’s Most Ethical Companies honoree, what is the key to Premier’s success? 

“Once leaders understand how ethics help inform their business on things like culture and work performance, they buy-in to the process and it becomes another part of the way we conduct business. Another critical aspect is measurement. While ethics or compliance is not as easy to measure as a P&L statement, using the right tools does provide leaders with the ability to see how much an effective ethics and compliance program can positively impact their bottom line.”

What is the value of going through the application process for the World’s Most Ethical Companies?

“It is a reminder to us that the field of ethics and compliance is growing and gives us a first blush at what organizations like Ethisphere are seeking to measure. It’s a comprehensive self-assessment tool in and of itself. Yes, it takes time, but it also makes you pause and think, why are they asking for this?”

Alan Sauber
Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, Premier Inc.

Learn How Ethisphere can drive your Compliance Program Effectiveness

Our comprehensive Program Assessment looks at your corporate governance systems and ethics and compliance program. The result? A detailed findings report and executive presentation that identifies gaps and includes recommendations to reduce risk and improve business practices.

An Independent Verification of Your Program:

Ethisphere’s independent review of your company’s program and practices provides external validation of your organization’s commitment to business ethics and compliance. Compliance Leader Verification recognizes companies who’ve proven that their programs and practices are extraordinary, and provide mechanisms to help communicate this key differentiator to employees, customers, and investors.