Choosing the right compliance software is essential for businesses in highly-regulated industries. A robust program can give leadership a high-level view of progress while empowering users with more granular information.
Researching different programs and talking to experienced users can help you make the best choice for your business. But how do you know which program to choose?
Know Your Needs
When choosing compliance software, it’s important to know your needs. You don’t want to spend time and resources on a program that won’t work for your organization. To avoid this, take some time to identify your specific industry and regulatory compliance needs. You can then research different programs to find one that meets your requirements.
A good compliance management system gives leadership a top-level view of compliance progress while empowering users with more granular details about their ongoing security efforts. You can also easily customize and automate tasks, so your team is not burdened with repetitive processes.
Ultimately, you want a system that is simple to use and has a simple user interface. It will reduce the likelihood of errors and increase user adoption. In addition, you’ll want to choose a secure and scalable solution so that it can grow with your company for the long term. It should also have a comprehensive reporting dashboard that organizes data into easy-to-read analytics for a quick overview of your operations.
Look for Integrations
The best compliance software automates manual processes, enabling efficiency and consistency to reduce risk and avoid legal issues. To help ensure the best results, your software should be integrated with the other systems that drive your business. It would be best to look for features that make it easy to use. A cluttered interface may confuse users, while one that offers a familiar mobile experience will increase the likelihood of adoption.
A compliance monitoring platform should be able to integrate with your other systems, including HR and CRM, expense systems, order and firm-trading systems, research systems, broker-dealer systems, and others. Vendor solutions have a built-in suite of pre-built integrations that are field tested for the fastest client implementations, and they will also have partners to speed up custom development.
A flexible compliance system can help your team quickly adapt to changing risks and regulations by avoiding the time-consuming, costly process of adjusting policies in committee meetings, board meetings, and legal reviews. Choose software that delivers a centralized view of all conflict of interest and market abuse needs, including gifts and entertainment, outside activity, political contributions, and insider trading.
Look for Customization
Look for compliance software that you can modify to suit your needs when selecting. It can assist in lowering costs, increasing effectiveness, and averting future legal issues.
A good example of customized compliance software is ProCalV5, designed to streamline ISO certification for businesses. It offers data security, real-time compliance alerts, and automation. It is also designed to be user-friendly, which can help improve adoption rates and reduce the risk of errors.
Another feature to consider is industry-specific support. It can be helpful for organizations that deal with many regulatory issues. It can also help to reduce the amount of time spent on management.
An effective illustration of sector-specific compliance software that offers healthcare providers a variety of options. Whistleblower hotlines are one of its features, and it also has a risk management tool that aids in spotting patterns in financial statements or vendor payments. It can also help simplify operational complexity, which can be especially important for physician practices and long-term care facilities.
Look for Security
In a world of increasing cybersecurity risks, ensuring that your company complies with regulatory requirements is more important than ever. A good compliance management tool will help you keep track of changing regulations and alert you when there’s a potential breach, such as when sensitive data is emailed outside your business, or your system doesn’t have up-to-date antivirus software.
Other features to look for include audit reporting, which makes it easy to create reports on compliance activity, and security monitoring, which checks that your policies are being adhered to and that the controls are functioning properly. It might be advantageous to operate in a highly regulated field, such as healthcare or finance, where the possibility of fines is constant.
Look for Customer Support
Compliance software is great for helping you stay current on regulations and standards. It can help save you a lot of time and money by automating processes, flagging any violations before they become big problems, and making it easy for everyone to keep track of all the necessary information.
When choosing a compliance management tool, finding one that fits your business needs is important. For example, if you have an IT department, you’ll want to ensure the system integrates with your other systems and is compatible with your existing networks and tools. It will save you the time and expense of purchasing new systems or making adjustments between systems, which could be costly in terms of your budget and your business’s ability to work efficiently.
Additionally, the software should be easy to use. After all, you don’t want to choose compliance software that will be too difficult for your team to understand or use, which can lead to frustration and decreased adoption rates. Lastly, look for customer reviews to understand what others think about the software. These reviews are usually free of bias and commercial interest and can give you a better picture of how well the software works for its existing users.
