Our principles for responsible consulting, collaboration and corporate conduct
United by one goal: Leaving the world a little better than we found it
The viadoo Code of Conduct defines the principles that guide our consulting work and corporate conduct. We, the viadoo Guides, are committed to responsible collaboration, respect for human rights, sustainable organizational development, good corporate governance and the responsible use of artificial intelligence. Across all our activities, professional integrity, human responsibility and the interests of people and society remain at the center of our actions.
1. Fostering Collaboration
Trust and empathy are fundamental to effective collaboration within organizations and society. We therefore commit to:
- Clients: understanding their perspective, analyzing challenges carefully, delivering professional services reliably and treating entrusted information as confidential.
- Executives and employees: acting empathetically as facilitators, trainers, coaches and communication experts while respecting individual requirements and concerns.
- Society: acting responsibly, practicing values such as charity, respecting human rights and applicable rules, and supporting the free democratic basic order.
2. Strengthening Innovation and Future Viability
We believe technological progress should benefit as many people as possible and be guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). viadoo supports the innovation capability, sustainable development and future viability of organizations through business transformation. Because innovation is driven by people, we help employees develop, implement and bring new ideas to market. Our objective is to enable individuals to engage actively in business transformation and thereby improve organizational effectiveness, efficiency and sustainable innovation capability.
2.1 Artificial Intelligence Guidelines
At viadoo, we have used artificial intelligence since 2023 as a supporting digital tool for our services. AI helps us explore ideas, structure information, improve content and work more efficiently. It does not replace professional judgement, personal responsibility or the human relationships on which our work depends. These guidelines are binding and apply to the Managing Director and to all external partners using AI in connection with services delivered on behalf of viadoo GmbH.
People remain at the center of our work.
People, including their strengths, weaknesses, courage and concerns, remain at the center of our work. We use AI to support people, collaboration and responsible decision-making. AI must not replace the empathy, experience and professional judgement required in our consulting work.
Human responsibility cannot be delegated.
A qualified person reviews and takes responsibility for every AI-assisted result before it is used in a client context. The Managing Director retains final responsibility for client-facing analyses, recommendations, concepts and deliverables.
AI remains a supporting and controllable tool.
AI-generated output is never adopted uncritically. We assess it for factual accuracy, plausibility, relevance, completeness, potential bias and suitability for its intended purpose. Important facts and sources are independently verified where necessary.
Client information remains protected.
We do not enter confidential, classified or personal client data into the external AI systems we use. Information protected by non-disclosure agreements, contractual obligations, professional confidentiality, data-protection requirements or client-specific security rules must not be disclosed to an AI system.
Input data must be appropriate.
We are responsible for ensuring that information entered into an AI system is suitable for its intended purpose and, to the best of our knowledge, accurate and sufficiently complete. Wherever possible, we use anonymized, abstracted or fictitious information.
We comply with the EU AI Act and other applicable requirements.
We use AI in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, the EU Artificial Intelligence Act, and all other applicable legal, contractual and client-specific requirements. This includes data protection, confidentiality, information security, intellectual-property rights, usage rights and personality rights. More restrictive client requirements always take precedence.
Prohibited AI practices are not permitted.
We do not use AI for manipulative, deceptive or exploitative practices prohibited by Article 5 of the EU AI Act. We do not use AI for unlawful social scoring, prohibited biometric categorization or prohibited emotion recognition. AI must not be used to make autonomous decisions about individuals that could materially affect their rights, opportunities or treatment.
AI literacy is actively supported.
In accordance with Article 4 of the EU AI Act, viadoo takes appropriate measures to support the development of AI literacy among all persons operating or using AI systems on its behalf. These measures take account of their technical knowledge, experience, education and training, the context in which the relevant AI systems are used, and the people or groups potentially affected. Measures, instructions and competence assessments are documented in a manner proportionate to the context and risk. Article 4 does not require viadoo to guarantee a predetermined level of AI literacy for any individual.
We use AI transparently.
We inform clients when AI-generated text, images, audio, video, analyses or other content are substantively incorporated into a client deliverable. Purely internal uses such as brainstorming, outlining, language improvement, proofreading or formatting do not require separate disclosure, provided that the final result has been fully reviewed and is professionally owned by viadoo.
Legally required labelling is mandatory.
AI-generated or manipulated content is labelled whenever required by Article 50 of the EU AI Act. Deepfakes must be clearly disclosed as artificially generated or manipulated. People interacting directly with an AI system made available by viadoo must be informed that they are interacting with AI unless this is already obvious. Additional transparency obligations applying to content published on matters of public interest must be assessed before publication.
AI-generated content must respect third-party rights.
Before client-facing or public use, we consider copyright, trademark, personality and other third-party rights. AI-generated material must not be presented as verified, original or rights-cleared unless this has been appropriately assessed.
New AI use cases require prior assessment.
Before introducing a new AI system or materially changing an existing use case, viadoo determines its intended purpose, affected persons, information categories, risks, transparency requirements and classification under the EU AI Act. The assessment also determines whether viadoo acts as a deployer, provider or another regulated operator and whether high-risk obligations could apply.
High-risk use requires separate approval.
AI must not be used for a potentially high-risk purpose, including material employment-related decisions or other decisions listed in Annex III of the EU AI Act, unless its legal classification and all applicable obligations have been assessed, documented and approved by the Managing Director before use.
Project-specific restrictions are checked before use.
Where a project may involve special regulatory, confidentiality, information-security or contractual requirements, the permissibility of AI use is clarified as part of the proposal and order review or the Project Compliance Check.
Incidents and non-compliance are addressed.
Suspected disclosure of protected information, misleading AI output, unlawful use, missing transparency or other significant AI-related incidents must be reported to the Managing Director without delay. The affected use must be stopped where necessary, and corrective action must be documented and its effectiveness reviewed.
Uncertainty requires restraint.
If it is unclear whether information may be processed by an AI system or whether an AI-generated result may be used, the information or result must not be used until the matter has been clarified.
Version and approval
These Artificial Intelligence Guidelines are version 1.0. They were approved by the Managing Director of viadoo GmbH on 2 September 2026 and apply from that date. They are reviewed at least annually and whenever material legal, technological, contractual or risk-related changes occur.
3. Assuming Sustainable Social Responsibility
viadoo accepts responsibility for the society in which we operate and seeks to contribute to leaving the world in a better condition for future generations. Our approach follows the ESG principles of environmental protection, social justice and good corporate governance.
3.1 Environmental Protection
- Business travel: As a professional service company, business travel represents the largest share of our carbon footprint. However, viadoo operates no company cars. Team members use public transportation whenever possible and otherwise private vehicles, rental cars or car-sharing services. We also use a locally emission-free electric scooter.
- CO₂ compensation: Unavoidable travel-related CO₂ emissions are compensated where possible. Travel data is submitted to a non-profit organization in Berlin, which calculates emissions and compensation contributions used to finance renewable-energy and energy-efficiency projects.
- Web- & email hosting: Our website and e-mail infrastructure is hosted by a provider using electricity from renewable sources and supporting tree-planting and other climate-protection projects.
3.2 Social Justice
We provide equal opportunities based on competence and consider diversity when selecting team members. We regard diversity in gender, age, ethnicity and other characteristics as an asset to viadoo, our clients and society. viadoo also regularly supports several charitable organizations.
3.3 Good Corporate Governance
Our Board members are responsible for safeguarding viadoo’s continued existence and sustainable value creation. They, together with the other internal and external viadoo Guides, act in accordance with the principles of the eco-social market economy, applicable law and the legitimate interests of stakeholders. Our corporate conduct is additionally guided by the principle of the honorable businessman.
Management affirms viadoo’s responsibility toward society in accordance with the principles of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and is guided by the current version of the German Corporate Governance Code (GCGC).
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