Forensic Risk Alliance (FRA) and Infinnium roll out 4iG technology across Europe

Forensic Risk Alliance (FRA) a forensic accounting, electronic data and technology solutions and compliance consultancy firm, has partnered with technology company Infinnium to roll out its award-winning AI technology, 4iG, across Europe. FRA has exclusive rights throughout the EU for the Infinnium 4iG suite.

FRA is continuously researching and developing customized technology solutions for clients rather than the traditional offerings in the industry for the identification, collection, processing, searching and organization and review of data.

4iG is an AI-based, patented information governance platform which is set to revolutionise both privacy compliance, data organization and remote data collection. For any organisation facing compliance, litigation or investigations needs, the technology will save time and costs and protect companies from exporting non-responsive and sensitive data to third parties, but, more importantly, allows companies to have complete control and transparency of their data immediately after identification. 4iG provides on-demand instant reporting of data sets before any traditional processing, searching and export is required.

The 4iG platform connects with various enterprise data sources, mines this data and creates valuable information and electronic story board reporting. This reporting is unique to the industry because of the detailed insights into people, places, events, concepts, as well as sensitive information that is prevalent within an enterprise - allowing business users to effectively implement data governance strategies.

The technology has been trialled in a number of companies with cross-border data transfer requirements and feedback has been extremely positive. The testing was informed by some of the most common problems clients face and, in the course of these trials, FRA and Infinnium have perfected a solution to those challenges utilising their combined expertise and 4iG as the enabling technology to deliver cost-effective, risk-mitigating results. The automotive, defence and aerospace, financial services, healthcare and life sciences sectors are among those most likely to benefit from this innovative approach.

FRA and Infinnium have created best practice playbooks detailing workflows for Compliance, Litigation and Investigations, which are now being rolled out to clients in the EU. These sets of scenario-based strategies blend industry-leading best practices and proactive approaches to address data governance leveraging modern technologies, including AI. The main purpose of these playbooks and workflows is to address clients' concerns around data and privacy compliance.

4iG has the ability and capacity to support remote collections from multiple data sources simultaneously, including Office365, MS Exchange, G-Suite, FileShare and Sharepoint. It supports all known file formats and will work across multiple machines with petabyte-scale data.

A key component of the solution is how the technology enables organisations to identify and manage Personally Identifiable Information (PII), privileged data, trade-secrets and other sensitive information. It can easily categorise, encrypt, redact, or delete documents on a mass scale. 4iG can automatically redact any PII or other search terms in the collection of data from its source (multiple devices, computers). For example, it can be instructed to find and redact all social security numbers or medical records.

This first kind of capability is transformational for organisations to operationalise compliance with GDPR as well as other data privacy and compliance regulations.

As we approach the second anniversary of GDPR coming in to force, data security is a key area of focus for all organisations and boards of directors. Compliance regulations are increasingly prevalent and stringent, resulting in companies having to spend considerable resources to avoid substantial fines. Being able to respond in a timely manner is a key factor in being compliant with GDPR requests. Companies need to be prepared to effectively and efficiently respond to such requests. Not being compliant or losing PII, if the right precautionary measures are not in place, can seriously adversely affect a company's reputation.

The key benefits of 4iG are time, cost, risk mitigation and a proactive rather than reactive approach to data governance, providing strategic advantages for organisations. Compared to a manual or traditional linear review of documents, 4iG has significantly enhanced efficiency and speed. It also allows data to be managed and exploited more effectively and more accurately than traditional manual discovery tools, ensuring compliance with GDPR, protecting revenue and mitigating reputational risk. Rather than exporting data from the native environment, processing and then applying searches, with 4iG, we now have the ability to indentify data and instantly provide reporting of the data sets (custodian, file types, perform searches, apply AI to find data).

The volume of data is also growing exponentially which makes understanding of what is contained within an organisation's data more difficult and time-consuming. Advanced AI-based technologies such as 4iG offer the ability for users to quickly gain insights into their data.

Frances McLeod, Founding Partner and Head of Data Governance, Technology Solutions and Forensics, FRA, said: "I am delighted about the playbooks that the two teams have put together and am looking forward to taking these solutions to our clients in the EU. These playbooks are part of our FRA Technology Toolkit and will deliver repeatable and defensible solutions that are cost effective, enabling our clients to focus on their core business. We have worked to ensure a non-traditional approach to data management and assisting clients with identifyng data sets and understanding their business. More than ever, clients are concerned about understanding their data infrastructure because of GDPR and cross border investigations and litigation, but also, timing and costs are sensitive issues in relation to simply performing last minute "grab and go's" of company data. Companies have employee agreements and need to protect trade secrets before exporting data from their environment to any third party and under GDPR they must have data organized and accessible. I have experienced first-hand the problems and challenges clients face and am certain 4iG will help solve them, making it more effective to deal with data and save costs at the same time. I'm looking forward to introducing our clients to this technology as part of our FRA Technology Toolkit offering."

Harsh Sutaria, Co-Founder, Infinnium added: "We are seeing a growing need for the right technology to address needs surrounding privacy, compliance and eDiscovery in the EU market and are delighted to be partnering with FRA to take our product to market. With FRA's expertise, thought leadership, market presence and people combined with our technology, we have the ideal partnership to deliver customers transformational benefits."