b.yond was launched by the business law firm ARQIS as a specialised consulting service provider at the intersection of digital ethics and law. In times of accelerating digitalisation, unforeseen risks arise. Because much of what is technically possible has not yet been legally clarified or may not be socially desirable. A lack of standards and scandals in the media contribute to the fact that enormous uncertainties arise with the use of digital technologies.
Despite these risks, a wide range of business development opportunities are opening up. With the generation, collection, processing, distribu-tion, analysis and utilization of data, analog processes are optimized and completely new digital value chains are created. In this ambiva-lent relationship of opportunities and risks, one thing becomes clear: Digitization can no longer be thought of without questions of digital ethics and responsibility.
The corresponding answers lie in the establish-ment of reliable control mechanisms. We have therefore translated the complex issues of digi-tal responsibility into practicable formats and tools. With a broad spectrum of methods in-cluding analyses, assessments, audits, work-shops, and much more, we can respond to the requirements of every company - regardless of where you stand within your own digital trans-formation and what questions are driving you.
Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR) has become increasingly established as a term based on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in recent years. This is understood to mean all measures that pursue the goal of promoting digitally responsible action in the sense of a voluntary commitment. First of all, this requires demonstrable compliance with regulations and legal standards in the handling of data and algorithms. At the same time, ethical criteria that go beyond this are taken into account. The first laws on reporting obligations in the sense of CDR came into force within the European Union in mid-2020.
Digitally responsible action requires the cooperation of various corporate divisions and can only be achieved by working together on a unified set of goals. Together with our customers, we therefore develop CDR strategies and translate them into operational measures that are aligned with the customer's specific situation and the current legal standards. This can include, for example, the establishment of a digi-tal ethics board, a data ethics audit or a training concept for employees.
The appropriate use of new technologies and data has been widely discussed for some time. Orientation to certain digital-ethical values has emerged as a suitable approach. Here, we can draw on a common value base within Europe, which is reflected in a large number of published digital-ethical guidelines. These come from non-profit organizations such as associations, federations, research institutions and foundations, political institutions such as ministries, expert committees commissioned by national governments or the EU Commission, as well as a number of companies from different industries. Due to different goals and perspectives, however, existing guidelines cannot be transferred one-to-one to every company.
Adapted to the respective company and its technologies, we therefore work with our customers to develop value-based guidelines for digital ethical responsibility. In this way, companies create a uniform set of goals with which they can organize themselves internally as well as position themselves externally and differentiate themselves from competitors. The guide-lines are translated into instructions for action and processes as well as contracts and structures with the involvement of the company and social partners as well as external stakeholders. However, they also form the basis for further digital-ethical measures such as the establish-ment of ethics-by-design principles in product or service development or the analysis of digital-ethical risks of individual business units and processes.
Customer-centricity has long since gone beyond pure product design. Customers, users, investors and other stakeholders in digital products and services are increasingly paying attention to accompanying factors such as the handling of data and the trustworthiness of connected services. The digital products and services of tomorrow must therefore not only solve customer problems, but also be secure, data-saving and privacy-friendly. In this context, these attributes cannot be transferred downstream to the company's own products and services, but require direct implementation in the innovation process. The initial decision for or against the use of a particular technology should already be made dependent on its digital-ethical risk potential. To be able to assess the latter, structured processes are needed that can take effect in all development phases.
With our systematic DERA (Digital Ethics Risk Assessment) tool, we uncover digital-ethical risks of digital product and process innovations and develop solutions to implement ethical aspects in innovation processes. This helps companies to act transparently and comprehensibly and to manage immanent risks professionally.
Whether "shitstorms" on social networks or the Cambridge Analytica case - awareness of the responsible use of data increases with every scandal and at the same time becomes a dreaded risk for companies in their digital transformation. However, the risks associated with the use of data are not always directly apparent to decision-makers. Both clear legal violations and unintended consequences play a role here.
We therefore support our clients in analyzing, evaluating and minimizing digital-ethical risks. Among other things, we use the Digital Ethical Risk Assessment (DERA) methodology and conduct data ethics audits.
With the digital transformation, the demands of the working world are also increasing. Extensive networking means that individual professional groups such as software and product develop-ers are often given responsibilities for which they are not prepared. Are they supposed to find the answers themselves to the questions of what is legally permitted and what is socially accepted?
Aspects of digital responsibility are highly con-text-dependent and not always intuitively com-prehensible. In addition to a sound knowledge of digital-ethical principles, they require an open mindset that involves continuously asking ques-tions, acting with foresight, and weighing things up in a structured manner. That is why we ac-company customers on their path of digital re-sponsibility with certified training formats as well as targeted workshops and coaching.
Digitally responsible action in and by companies presents employees and managers with organizational and practical challenges. In everyday work, situations arise time and again in which digitally-ethically relevant decisions have to be made. A governance-model that creates a framework for effective and structured decision-making is therefore essential.
To ensure the responsible handling of data and algorithms across different hierarchical levels and corporate divisions, we work with our customers to develop effective governance-structures.
For example, the establishment of an ethics-board or -stewards has proven to be an effective measure that can quickly demonstrate initial success. In addition to the selection of suitable persons, the focus is on process embedding and transparent, value-based decision-making (decision-making framework).
At the latest since the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May 2018, the protection of personal data has been on everyone's lips. But data-driven business models or the use of AI and algorithms must not only comply with strict national and European data protection requirements. There are also numerous other compliance obligations for corporate leaders in these contexts. For example, collaborations or shared access to data in dedicated data ecosystems are relevant under anti-trust and IT law. In the area of human resources, there are a large number of legal obligations in connection with the use of data, starting with the general canon of obligations under employment and data protection law and extending to co-determination and questions of personal rights. This applies all the more in view of the challenges of "Working World 4.0". All these legal issues are at the interface with digital ethics, which is becoming increasingly legalized and has already found its way into the catalog of duties of the management of corporations.
That is why we support companies in assuming digital responsibility and shaping their own governance and compliance in a digital-ethical manner at an early stage. In addition to anchoring digital-ethical measures in processes, this requires a subsequent cultural transformation, as companies are already familiar with from the implementation of compliance management systems (CMS). We also support our customers in this process.