Mystery Shopping to Prevent Crises

• Physical and Information Security. How easy is it to just walk in to a facility unchallenged? To walk out with a re-usable Visitor's Badge? To see the contents of files containing what should be confidential information? Would it have been easy to just pick up a flash drive or CD-ROM off someone's desk? Are valuable products placed in a manner that would allow someone to easily pick them up and stick them in a pocket or purse? Are people talking about company business within easy earshot of a visitor?
• Human Resources . Does the "Mystery Shopper" prospective employee get treated in a manner consistent with all EEOC requirements and other applicable laws? Are there signs of discrimination or harassment in the manner people talk to each other? Are there vulnerabilities indicated in the answer the shopper receives when asking any average employee, "what's it like to work here?"
• Financial/Business Matters. Contact some vendors for the target organization, playing the role of someone who's also been asked to be a vendor. Find out how they treat outside vendors (a prime source of potentially damaging gossip), whether they pay on time, and what the vendor thinks of their business practices.
• Investment Matters. If the target organization is publicly held, become a potentially large investor who wants feedback from major brokers and/or analysts. And then ask the same questions of the organization's CFO. Negative feedback from the former, or inconsistencies between the answers given by those outside and inside the company, are possible warning flags.