How do I select a compliance solution for my business?

A recent survey revealed that, on average, organizations must comply with 13 different IT security and/or privacy regulations and spend $3.5 million annually on compliance activities, with compliance audits consuming 58 working days each quarter.

As more regulations come into existence and more organizations migrate their critical systems, applications and infrastructure to the cloud, the risk of non-compliance and associated impact increases.

To select a suitable compliance solution for your business, you need to think about a variety of factors. We’ve talked to several cybersecurity professionals to get their insight on the topic.

Rupert Brown, CTO, Evidology Systems

There are no easy answers to selecting a compliance solution, and complexity is likely to increase due to both technology and political factors.

It’s probably best to tackle the problem along these lines while keeping in mind a few essential questions:

• What are you having to show compliance with – legal, process, behaviour, standard, policy, etc.?
• When do you need to show compliance? Is it a single date, a regular cycle or continuous assessment?
• How do you need to show compliance – is it a fixed formal calculation (position/balance sheet, etc.) or some sort of proof of effective surveillance/record keeping, or something else?
• Where is the compliance assessed – remotely by a regulatory authority or “on-premise” by an inspection/audit, or a technical “test”?
• Who is responsible for demonstrating compliance in the organization – designated officers/board members or just general operational roles?
• Why do you need to show compliance – is it due to a legal statute or is it for a business need, to gain access to a particular market or accreditation?

Once you have worked through these dimensions of the problem it will probably become apparent that “one size” doesn’t fit all and a portfolio of solutions will be required, as well as a significant adoption/”culture change” effort.

John Lee, President, CSS

Financial firms need a trusted partner that understands their top compliance challenges – from regulatory change to data management, TCO, risk and scalability. As the regulatory landscape evolves, keeping pace with change means having an effective and automated enterprise compliance management program.

Complementary technology, data analytics, regulatory expertise and managed services is also critical. Vendor risk can create a single point of failure in a compliance strategy. Multiple single vendors can add complexity and costs. When you’re integrating multiple data sources, you also need a reliable vendor to keep that data secure.

With the complexities of global compliance, do you have the right in-house technical capabilities and policies to future-proof your organization? Conduct a gap analysis and map out an end-to-end, integrated compliance solution instead of operating with disparate point solutions or large in-house teams that rely on manual processes.

To mitigate both operational and regulatory risk, look for an agile partner of size and depth that is credible and understands global regulation to respond quickly to changing requirements. Compliance rules should be managed in a dynamic way, and you need a higher quality of intelligence, global support and coverage.

Look to a managed service provider with the regulatory expertise to take preemptive measures and optimize your compliance vision – delivering tactical solutions to regulatory requirements while supporting your strategic growth expectations.

Haywood Marsh, General Manager, NAVEX Global

Risk and compliance professionals must constantly assess the unique and ever-changing factors that impact their ability to remain compliant, like regional and national regulatory requirements, security and IT risks, and risks from third parties.

They should look for an integrated risk and compliance solution that seamlessly supports this ongoing effort by aggregating the various external and internal compliance-related and operational risk information into a single, SaaS source that can remain flexible with changing variables and helps them build a more resilient and higher performing business.

Flexible, SaaS solutions can, for example, be configured to adhere to new data privacy laws and international mandates that are constantly being updated. This functionality is key for global companies operating in multiple locations, so they can ensure compliance with regional regulations.

Integrated solutions with a unified view of information are vital because they help all departments – from risk and compliance to legal and HR professionals – work together to better understand the challenges inherent in their business, and streamline risk and compliance management and reporting.

Risk and compliance solutions are arguably the most important part of managing and maintaining a high performing business. Given each program is unique to the organization that it belongs to, the solution should be configurable and equipped to encompass each compliance and risk management need.