How Compliance Management System Tools Are Changing the Compliance Landscape

The job demand for compliance managers is like never before. With increasing scrutiny on companies’ security posture, managers must meet a large array of regulations, standards, and contractual requirements. In addition, the technological revolution means companies must deal with massive amounts of data, raising concerns about data security and privacy.  Finally, a more worrying challenge is the threat from cybercriminals on the prowl to exploit vulnerabilities in the startup ecosystem.

All these factors elicit frameworks and guidelines companies must comply with to ensure data security. In addition, they'll also need to look out for user privacy and safeguard industries from risks and sharp practices.

In response, companies should consider adopting flexible and robust compliance management systems. These systems allow them to support the compliance manager and respond adequately to changing regulatory requirements.

What is a Compliance Management System

A compliance management system (CMS) is a software platform that helps compliance professionals gain the visibility, efficiency, and consistency they need to stay on top of all of their security assurance and compliance work.

The system comes with powerful automation capabilities that allow compliance professionals to quickly and easily collect and test evidence from their key IT systems. Included integrations and deep collaboration capabilities enable an entire organization to advance its compliance function in unison.

Further, the software serves as a system of record that retains all historical data from previous audits and generates insightful analytics showcasing the state of an organization’s compliance effort.

A compliance management system (CMS) integrates industry frameworks/standards (e.g. ISO 27001, PCI DSS, SOC2, etc.), functions, tools, and internal controls to help you meet your compliance targets.

So instead of relying on spreadsheets, file storage, and emails to process, communicate, implement, and evaluate your compliance processes, a CMS allows you to do all that without the usual stress, repetitions, and boringness.

Rather than expend scarce resources on tedious, complicated, and ultimately inefficient manual tasks, you probably are better served with a CMS. It makes the jobs more convenient and more productive for your company.

Unlike in the past when industries developed regulations in response to events once in a blue moon, tides of industry standards now change very rapidly. Companies have to either adjust their sails or get swept away. You must decide whether to stick with spending hours on spreadsheets or minutes on automated systems.

An automated CMS minimizes the risk of compliance failure and the costs that come with it. A CMS benchmarks your compliance tasks against relevant, recent, and applicable frameworks to optimize your data intake, routing, and management.

This way, your company is better prepared to meet internal and external compliance requirements, improve service and product quality, and improve customer satisfaction.

The system provides a channel for effective communication among and between those responsible for your compliance task. For example, you can train employees on industry requirements with a CMS.

Beyond that, the CMS lets your employees know their responsibilities for managing controls – so everyone can do their part to keep your organization protected.  Unifying these factors helps you monitor their activities and take corrective actions where necessary.

Why You Need a Compliance Management System

Firms must adhere to governmental laws and industry requirements that apply to their business operations. These requirements can range from how you conduct your business to the measures you put in place to secure your systems.

Given the sporadic nature of most industries, the regulatory requirement can change very quickly. So you need to adopt a flexible system for compliance management. Such a system helps your business keep up with the changes so your company can keep up with industry demands.

However, compliance is a rigorous, time-consuming process. Navigating the many regulatory frameworks to entrench a compliance culture in your business is not a walk in the park. It takes time, money, and human resources for businesses to keep up, and many firms don't just have enough to spare.

Whatever the case, firms must comply. A no-action letter can protect you at the early stages of your business. However, sooner or later, you must get in line with government requirements. Otherwise, regulators will fine you or deny you licenses for breaching industry standards or failing to meet compliance targets. Therefore, you must optimize your efforts to meet industry standards as diligently as possible.

Compliance is Everyone's Responsibility

"There is no act for which nobody is responsible."

The timeless words of Otto von Bismark ring true when one considers the need for accountability in compliance management. Indeed, while every stakeholder in a company is responsible for internal and external compliance, not everyone will answer when external auditors and regulators come knocking. That is the board of directors' job.

Therefore, the board of directors needs to keep the system working as far as regulatory requirements and industry standards are concerned. A first step is to stay abreast of applicable requirements and establish relevant compliance programs for all parties engaged in the firm.

Guided by established programs, management can maintain oversight by communicating compliance expectations and demonstrating willingness to meet those expectations. Your organization's leadership needs to set the tone of commitment from top to bottom and show that it takes compliance very seriously.

Leadership at this stage is vital. Employees embrace rules and guidelines when management embodies those values. Therefore, you should not only mobilize resources for compliance management, but you also need to coordinate the use of such resources according to compliance objectives.

The Role of Compliance Audit in a Compliance System

A compliance audit involves an independent review of your compliance program. It provides the opportunity to assess if your information security activities are measuring up to the objectives/requirements that your organization intends to meet. It allows you to gather evidence and identify compliance risks and weaknesses in-house, so you can correct them before external auditors come around.

The aim of an audit is not just to meet legal requirements. More importantly, an audit allows you to validate whether your organization is truly doing what you said you will do to protect information and satisfy customers’ security needs. This step is essential in preventing the reputational damage that could result from a compliance failure.

Tools For Compliance Professionals

As industries evolve and the list of compliance tasks expands, adopting industry requirements with your corporate standards and implementing them across your company is too much of a job for a compliance officer.

In no time, you will realize that having a compliance officer alone does not guarantee compliance success for your business. A CMS can, however, increase your chances significantly.

A CMS bundles your compliance workflow into a single system for easy execution. So, for example, instead of filing individual and disjointed reports, your compliance team can use software to create their reports easily and quickly.

An outcome of this unified system is that you will have a real-time record of your company's compliance posture with applicable guidelines and requirements. In addition, a centralized compliance system makes for a convenient way for you to review and analyze your risk and compliance status and take corrective action in earnest.

Regardless of your organization's complexity, CMS tools are flexible to permit the integration and operation of your compliance system. Such flexibility and scalability are exceedingly feasible with software like Hyperproof. In addition, this CMS tool allows you to manage your compliance program requirements, controls, and proof in one place.

Hyperproof is software designed with compliance professionals and security-conscious organizations in mind. The software supports frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST 800-53, and PCI-DSS that contain guidelines and requirements on legal and industry expectations of your company.

Besides supporting the frameworks, a CMS provides an easy-to-use UI and workflows for compliance managers to oversee these security compliance frameworks and regulatory compliance programs most effectively and efficiently.

Other software like Third-Party Manager empowers security and compliance professionals with the tools and data to manage compliance systems and ensure audit readiness. It supports an expanded range of frameworks like Hyperproof.

However, unlike Hyperproof, Third-Party Manager does not allow companies to create bespoke internal control programs for their firms. Either way, you can be sure to meet both internal and external compliance targets with both software.

Not all CMS execute integrated compliance management; some are task-specific. Skillcast and RegTech are great for compliance training. Donesafe helps companies to comply with HSE requirements. For legal compliance, firms can use Libryo, a software that covers laws applicable to businesses in multiple jurisdictions. Finally, if you are in an industry that deals with large data, Netwrix has all the features you need to maintain data security compliance.

Final Thought

The startup landscape is evolving daily; so is the compliance and security landscape. As new threats and regulations emerge, security and compliance managers must be at the top of their game to prevent risks and pass audits.

In addition, they need to maintain the capacity to ensure the health and safety of their organizations in an ever-changing environment. Meeting these demands is a rigorous but necessary challenge for compliance managers.

A CMS  can make this challenge simpler. Some software like RegTech, Donesafe, and Netwrix enable you to achieve specific compliance targets, while others such as Hyperproof provide an integrated platform for general compliance management.

Each of the software has its strengths and weaknesses. Whatever the CMS software you choose, make sure it's up to the challenge.