The biggest hurdles for codes of conduct and governance are not only in the writing of the policies, it is making sure that an entire organization is aware of them and then following up when there are violations. Axentis, providers of a leading governance, risk and compliance management solution, recently came to market with a suite of tools designed to help a company shape consistent ethics policies in line with industry-specific regulations and then create a matrix for the policies' dissemination and incident management. The Ethics & Integrity Management Suite, with the Axentis Code of Conduct tool, automates the development and tracking of codes of conduct using multiple communication styles, ranging from simple policies to e-learning solutions.

Leveraging its software-as-a-service delivery model, the company says it can be implemented in as little as two weeks with minimal IT resources. "This solution brings a consistency to the reporting and follow-up even if a program is outsourced," says Roger Bottum, Axentis vice president of product management. "It helps you avoid one of the biggest challenges companies face–that is making sure you do not treat similar incidents differently. For instance you don't want a case where a weak performer and a strong performer both commit the same transgression and then only the weak performer is let go."