The increasing digitisation of society and the economy and, with it, the growth in an individual’s online profile means there is now more need than ever for HNWIs and their families to turn somewhere for advice on online narrative management, reputation risk and mitigation.
One such firm that focuses on these three specialist areas is online intelligence, investigations and reputation firm Digitalis which since 2009 has worked with governments, high profile individuals and their families and corporations around the world.
Earlier this month eprivateclient spoke to Jessica Shelver, a director and Digitalis’ head of client advisory and Georgina Lovett-Wride, an associate at the firm, about how the firm helps individuals, families and companies present a narrative online that is accurate, truthful, and best supports their business and reputation.
Ms Shelver explained that the firm’s proprietary technology enables it to identify and analyse online content that presents serious reputational risk to an individual, family or organisation.
This then allows Digitalis to develop strategies to mitigate those risks by increasing reputational resilience online.
Its client advisers, drawn from journalism, business intelligence, technology, the military intelligence and crisis and reputation management, can then provide strategic counsel on all aspects of online reputation, from building resilience online to post-crisis reputation rebalancing.
“We are not PRs, lawyers or cyber experts but we sit somewhere in between, uniquely equipped to solve problems within our lane of expertise,” she said, adding that “we have a tremendously talented team who all bring something unique to solving the issues our clients face.”
“Our tech team develops in-house software to identify online reputational risk; our search and content experts use their comprehensive knowledge of every search engine to analyse online content and its potential threats; our digital investigators spot online attacks; and our client-facing team offers unparalleled analysis and advice.”
When tracking disinformation and misinformation, Ms Shelver said that Digitalis’ tech and digital risk teams devise strategies to investigate and track the source and amplification of the material, using “sophisticated tools that are unique to Digitalis and constantly upgraded as we encounter new challenges”.
Jessica Shelver
The firm has three pillars of service – firstly, its online reputation management, secondly, its online narrative management capability and thirdly its digital risk & intelligence practice.
The first pillar - online reputation management – is where clients are provided with “resilience-enhancing and narrative establishment services” that create, examine, and influence relevant online content, both owned and third-party, wherever it lives, to make sure the client’s story “is being told in the way you want it to be,” Ms Shelver explained.
“We work with clients to increase the resilience of their digital profile, helping to minimise the impact of negative news while ensuring their preferred narrative and messaging is prominent when an online search is carried out,” she added.
Digitalis’ technology enables the gathering of all on-page and off-page search components that position a URL on a search engine and allows the firm to track any keyword in any territory over time, giving an accurate picture of what somebody searching for a company sees.
The second pillar - online narrative management capability – allows a company or entity to control its digital narratives surrounding contentious situations and in preparation for high-value corporate events – effectively shaping the online media debate towards that company or entity’s planned outcome.
“I think that this is the most fascinating part of our business. We deploy the same technology and methodology as we do in our online reputation management business but in and around a high stakes dispute,” Ms Shelver explained.
She added that it means critical messaging connects with stakeholders, including hard-to- reach audiences, who are using online search engines as part of their research suite. A major element of this is event-driven and special situations, including contested M&A, take-privates, shareholder activism and proxy contests.
“The prioritisation of narratives presented online can be extremely powerful in influencing opinion around contended or otherwise disputed high-value events. It’s vital that when stakeholders seek information about an issue online, they find an accurate and up-to-date representation of your business, its people and its objectives,” Ms Shelver said.
The third pillar - Digitalis’s digital risk & intelligence practice - provides individuals, organisations and governments with targeted and actionable digital intelligence.
“As digital privacy experts, we are skilled in identifying digital threats that exist across the deep and surface web, combining our proprietary technology platform with advanced digital investigative techniques,” Ms Shelver said.
The firm provides senior decision-makers and law firms with online information to assist critical business planning. This may be in legal cases or pre- transactional situations, including competitor, pre-IPO, and M&A activity.
Georgina Lovett-Wride
In order to provide greater support to clients Digitalis is also developing Digitalis Insights - a new beta offering that provides clients with direct access to an intelligence platform to monitor online risk and reputation.
Ms Lovett-Wride said that the new platform has three main components designed to help family offices, amongst others, “to enhance their offering to clients and help them to establish risk exposure, and therefore position them on the front foot to be able to mitigate it.”
Digitalis has long worked with private clients to maintain, improve and safeguard their reputation online, as well as to protect their privacy and that of their families as “private individuals increasingly find themselves on the receiving end of reputational attacks, and we offer a service tailored to individual needs,” Ms Shelver - who also heads up the firm's private client practice - explained.
The increased digitisation of most daily exchanges, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic, has significantly increased security and reputational risks that are faced by families. Every minute, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data is uploaded. This forms an ever-expanding pool of uncensored information online which could be leveraged with malicious intent.
A lack of clarity regarding the extent of the digital footprint of a family could cause reputational damage, infringement of privacy, or threats to physical security. Superimposed to this is a continued agenda against wealth, exhibited via the constant media scrutiny regarding Unexplained Wealth Orders (UFO), leaked papers (Panama, Paradise and Pandora) and offshore structures.
Risks that Digitalis has identified within the family sector in the recent years include over-sharing on social media by second generation family members, which often lead to sensitive information being divulged online as well as reputational damage caused by inappropriate pictures appearing on the internet.
The firm has also found a lack of understanding regarding how data is exploited and where data was stored and shared, signifying a deficiency of privacy settings. Finally, the greatest risk was a lack of awareness regarding the digital footprint that a family leaves online.
“A unified digital strategy for a family is of the utmost importance,” Ms Shelver said. “Understanding the online exposure and related risks of every member can provide the peace of mind necessary for them to continue their day-to-day activities while avoiding risk. When it comes to privacy, you are only as strong as your weakest link.”
Ms Lovett-Wride added that although Digitalis encourages clients to think about their positioning before an unplanned event, “we often find ourselves in a responding position- which means leaning into action at the drop of a hat to help them. Some days you can plan your day ahead about as much as you can plan tomorrow’s headlines. But then again in some cases that is very literally what we are structuring our days around – the unknown unknowns.”