How to Easily Integrate AI Assistants into Your Investigative Process

If there’s one thing that workplace investigators never seem to have enough of, it’s time. Whether your team and caseload are small, or you have dozens of investigators working through hundreds of cases per month, there’s always room for improvement to your processes.

AI copilots can help investigators complete tedious tasks faster and with fewer errors, but nearly 40 percent say that they never use AI in the workplace, according to a Case IQ and HR Morning poll. In this guide, we’ll explain how your team can use AI tools to make your investigative program more effective and the steps you need to take to integrate them into your everyday processes.

Types of AI Assistants for Investigations

You probably know that AI tools are out there to use, but what exactly can they do for you? Case IQ has three AI copilots that can streamline some of the most time-consuming, risky aspects of your investigations.

First, the Summarization Copilot pulls case information into a pre-set template (either one created by your team or a default one on the platform) to create a thorough summary in just a few minutes. The tool also recommends formatting and details to include based on internal policies you’ve uploaded to the platform. For instance, say your harassment policy requires a week of unpaid leave for a second offense. If you investigate a harassment case and find the employee has violated your policy for the second time, the copilot will suggest adding a recommended disciplinary action of one week of unpaid leave to your report.

Investigators can then edit the summary to ensure all information is correct and before sharing it with stakeholders. This tool isn’t a replacement for an investigator, but a helper to reduce time spent on a tedious task while also reducing the risk of human error.

Case IQ’s Summarization Copilot doesn’t just create a full final investigation report. Investigators can also use it to write:

• Shorter executive summaries of cases ideal for sharing with stakeholders
• Investigation timelines with details of work that was done on the case from intake to resolution

Next, the Translation Copilot uses AI to automatically detect and translate the initial report and follow-up messages between the investigation team and the reporter into the user’s default language. This means your team won’t have to manually translate documents or send them off to a translator, saving time and, in turn, helping you resolve issues faster.

READ MORE: How to Promote a Speak Up Culture in Your Multilingual Workforce

Finally, the Intake Copilot (coming soon) helps organizations create an easier, more effective reporting process. Submitting complaints or concerns can be overwhelming for employees, especially if the intake form is long or confusing. As a result, potential reporters might abandon their reports rather than stress out trying to make sense of the process. The Intake Copilot chatbot walks complainants through the process step by step, prompting them with directions at every stage. This tool aims to reduce the number of abandoned reports, ensuring that your organization uncovers issues early so you can resolve them before they escalate.

Why Your Organization Should Use AI Copilots for Investigations

Case summarization is “a very manual process where now you’re going back over all your notes, going back over all your witnesses, maybe you’re going through transcripts, maybe you have to review videos again and you’re consolidating all that information,” says Errol Apostolopoulos, Case IQ’s SVP of Product. During this process, you’re “probably following some best practices that the organization has . . . to consolidate all of that information, draft a report, try to ensure that you’re not coming up with a recommendation that is different than what you’ve done for similar cases in the past,” he explains.

Trying to remember every step or piece of information needed and following a consistent, compliant process can be tough, especially when you’re stretched thin due to a large caseload and/or small investigative team. Using AI assistants, however, can help you by improving your team’s:

• Efficiency: By reducing time spent on manual tasks like case summarization and translation, your team has more time to work on more complex aspects of your cases. You can do more in less time, speeding up incident resolutions.
• Consistency: When you use the same case summary templates every time you wrap up cases of the same type, you ensure consistency. This reduces your risk of a wrongful discipline lawsuit from an employee and speeds up reporting, as investigators don’t have to wonder what information to include in the case summary.
• Compliance: Certain case types (i.e., workplace injuries) require specific information in the case summary, as you must file a report with a regulator. Using a compliant template with your AI assistant ensures you include every detail you need, helping your organization avoid fines and penalties.
• Accuracy: Everyone makes mistakes, but it’s especially easy when you’re working on multiple cases at a time. AI copilots reduce the risk of human errors including missed information, spelling and grammar mistakes, and inaccuracies.
• User experience: AI copilots make things easier, whether it’s a reporter submitting a complaint, an investigator summarizing an investigation, or any user reading communications in their language of choice. When steps are streamlined, your team saves time, money, and mental burden.

READ MORE: 4 HR Case Management Software Features That Will Make Your Life Easier

How to Integrate AI Copilots into Your Investigations Program

Adopting AI assistants isn’t a quick and easy process. It takes extensive research into your company’s needs, budget, and capacity for a new tool. However, the benefits of using AI for your investigations are worth this extra effort.

Before choosing an AI tool, your investigative team and executives should first familiarize themselves with what’s out there. What are your organizational goals for AI? What tools do similar organizations or your competitors use?

Then, identify areas of your investigation program that could benefit from increased efficiency. In addition, evaluate ways an AI tool could improve the employee experience at various investigative stages. Finally, work with your legal and IT departments to address potential data privacy and security concerns that could come with implementing an AI copilot.

After you’ve chosen the perfect AI assistant for your organization and addressed its potential risks, make an implementation plan and communication strategy. Who will find out about the new tool, when, and how? Who is responsible for each stage of implementation? Once your plan is in place, introduce the tool to a few employees to start. This could be executives, managers, or a testing committee with representatives from different teams and employment levels.

This is also the time to update your internal policies and process documentation to include best practices for using the new tool. For instance, in your instructions for how to write a case summary, change the details of your manual process to steps for using the AI copilot. Or, in your whistleblowing policy, explain how the AI chatbot will walk reporters through completing the intake form.

READ MORE: AI for Workplace Investigations: The Basics for 2024

A few weeks before officially launching your new tool, conduct employee training sessions on how to use it. Start with a demonstration, then get employees to use the tool for sample cases on their own (with supervisors to ask for help). “If I’m going to interact with AI, I need training,” says Sharlyn Lauby, SHRM-SCP, and President at ITM Group. “That will help me get comfortable with it and put me in a good position that as I start to use AI tools, I can do a debrief for the organization.”

Finally, use what you’ve learned from training feedback and the testing group to assess the tool’s efficacy for your program. Lauby suggests asking “What went well?” first. Then, ask “What could be improved, and how?” Make a timeline for changes and determine who is responsible for those. While AI is incredibly helpful to investigators, using it is also a big adjustment, so be sure to prepare your team for a period of rapid change before they settle into using it every day.

Case IQ’s New AI-Powered Copilots

In a time when data is valued above all else, staying ahead in investigations means leveraging the most advanced tools available. Case IQ’s generative AI copilots transform how teams manage and resolve workplace incidents. Learn how your team can improve efficiency, accuracy, and insight with our AI-enhanced case management software here.