All big businesses these days focus a lot on regulatory compliance. Privacy concerns are key drivers of government regulation, and some of the industries these days are proactively implementing their own rules in an attempt to head off added government interference.
Many big companies are under the radar and cannot afford to attach their household names with any violation of government or industry requirements. But what happens in the case of small and medium-sized businesses?
Small and medium-sized businesses have to face specific challenges and scenarios as new laws are pulling more of them inside the regulatory field, where they would have to steer through a maze of directives that are established in vague and at times confusing legal lingo, which makes it tough to comprehend what the requirements are and if they apply to you, and how should you meet them.
However, it is very important for all businesses to meet these compliance requirements as there are fines and penalties if someone fails to comply with any federal and global regulations like The U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (learn more about GDPR here ) could cost a business huge penalties.
Defining regulatory compliance management
In simple words, regulatory compliance is ensuring that a company or business is following all the rules and standards that have been set for its industry. These regulations or rules are mostly established by government legislation or by proxy via some government agencies. In the EU, there are many regulations that have been established at a supra-national level. Regulatory compliance management can be defined as the set of processes and technology that is put in place by a company to make sure that there is regulatory compliance.
In most of the countries, such rules and regulations have gone up in a big way over time. The technology transformation merged with increasing wealth is the cause of a profusion of complex yet innovative new products and services that are provided to consumers and businesses. The probability of bad behavior and bad outcomes are burgeoned.
Handing and auditing a company’s regulatory compliance could be a very expensive task. This could get even more complex when a company has to face multiple compliance requirements in various market segments it operates in. Therefore, having regulatory compliance software is a good idea.
Importance of regulatory compliance
Regulatory compliance is important for various reasons:
- It is important for consumers to protect them from damaging consequences of any actions performed by firms.
- It is necessary for businesses to safeguard their brands and reputations.
- It is imperative for directors and managers to prevent any criminal liability which would also result in career termination.
What is regulatory compliance management software?
Regulatory compliance software solutions are basically a system that centralizes, automates, and also streamlines your processes, files or documents, and manages communication relevant to a company’s adherence to complying with government and professional rules, standards and regulations that are required in their industry. Regulatory compliance software helps you in managing risks, implement an optimized workflow, and authorize your staff with greater visibility and know-how on compliance requirements to help your company navigate away from expensive fines or penalties or, worse, a shutdown scenario.
What are the advantages of having a regulatory compliance management software?
Regulatory compliance software helps organizations with:
- Lesser legal problems
- Better operations and process efficiency
- Enable informed and compliant decision-making
- Improved brand and business reputation
- Effective communication resulting in team collaboration
Compliance management could be overwhelming and expensive for organizations that are smaller in size. However, there are options of new low-cost regulatory compliance software that could help you to simplify your compliance processes.
- But there are some factors that a company must consider while choosing a compliance management product.
- Factors to keep in mind while opting a regulatory compliance management software
- Business specialization
- Compliance requirements as per the business and industry
- Organizational structure of the company
- Data security
- Integration capabilities
The bottom line is that when compliance is taken care of, you can avoid any expensive fines and hassles that non-compliance could bring with it. Using a good regulatory compliance software would automate the tiresome processes of gathering data, managing communication, knowledge sharing, decision-making, and then tracking any changes in the compliance requirements and finally integrating it to the whole system.
