Protecting your Company from Consultant Espionage: A Guide

Collaborating on innovative projects involves teamwork, but bringing in outside experts can be tricky. How do you utilize their expertise without giving away your best ideas? The fear of working with a consultancy or agency and seeing a similar concept appear in their work for another client is a common concern. According to a European Commission study, 20% of businesses have experienced attempted theft of confidential information, and almost 40% believe this risk is increasing. Our own survey of 230 construction firms revealed that 79% were worried about their proprietary knowledge being acquired and used by a partner without permission. This apprehension extends beyond construction—our follow-up survey across various industries, such as advertising, consulting, engineering, event management, and filmmaking, showed that nearly 75% of respondents were somewhat to extremely concerned about the risk of information leakage.