Why would you need a private investigator for your business? Well, if you want to protect your business from loss and theft of money, products or proprietary information, you might need a PI. If you want to protect your business from compromised company or customer info, you could hire a PI. If you want to protect your business from abuse or misuse of your network and electronic equipment, you could use a PI. If you want to protect your business from a damaged reputation, a PI can help. All of these issues fall under the category of a business investigation. Let’s take a closer look at what a business investigation can help you learn about your business.
Types of Business Investigations
There are several types of business investigations, depending upon the business owner’s primary concerns and what is happening within the business. Here are a few examples of the types of business investigations a PI might conduct.
- Secret Shopper Investigation – Gives you a full view of what a customer experiences in terms of the quality of service and product provided by your staff.
- Undercover Investigation – A PI joins your team undercover to investigate theft, misconduct, harassment or other issues.
- Financial Investigation – An investigation intended to uncover fraud, embezzlement, bribery, money laundering or other financial crimes happening in your business.
- Corruption Investigation – Usually reserved for larger corporations, this kind of investigation looks for corporate fraud, corporate espionage and bribery.
- Research Investigation – This kind of investigation can be as simple as in-depth background checks on your employees or as complex as investigating a potential business partner ahead of a merger, business deal or investment. You can also have research conducted about your competitors.
What Can You Learn About Your Business
Let’s take the example of a PI investigating a bar/restaurant. Here are some examples of things a PI can discover for you:
- Quality of product or service being delivered to customers
- What staff is actually doing on the clock
- Staff compliance with laws and regulations for your industry (example – checking ID to avoid serving alcohol to minors)
- Any liabilities created by staff behavior or oversight
- Employee adherence to company policy
- Under-ringing or over-pouring
- Theft created when employees fail to charge certain customers
While this is just one type of investigation for the bar/restaurant industry, it gives a good perspective on the types of things you can learn about your business.
Why hire a PI to investigate your business? You want to trust an independent third party that is licensed to conduct such investigations. This way their discoveries and evidence collected is admissible in court (if needed). They can also testify in court, if needed. This protects you and your business legally and ensures that any evidence uncovered is legitimate and has been legally obtained. When you need to learn about what’s happening at your business when you aren’t watching, call Bulldog PI and we can help!
