Many organizations across the world still operate compliance through fragmented business models. Here, departments, business units, and even compliance teams work in silos, each having its taxonomies, processes, reporting systems, and redressal infrastructure. This does not work, especially in a modern ecosystem. There is too high a chance for redundancies to exist, ultimately affecting the program’s overall efficacy.
Side-Effects Of Fragmented Programs
- Lack of consistent risk reporting
- Inefficient reporting models
- Gives rise to data duplication
- Increased risk of redundancies
The value of a federated approach must be considered on the path to promoting trust and integrity through compliance. A typical compliance data architecture solves these problems and helps organizations enjoy a more mature GRC universe. The federated approach embodies a centralized model. It opens clear routes for data exchange and offers departments the unique privilege of functioning symbiotically.
Establishing a unified data model should be one of the early priorities for any compliance program. It enables the seamless integration of compliance into the pipelines and paves the way for enhanced collaboration. With standardized taxonomies, frameworks, and policy governance methods, organizations break down the possibility for silos to exist, effectively minimizing exposure.
Educate and train stakeholders on compliance
Compliance education and training on compliance requirements should be part of any robust compliance program. Companies are less likely to see the benefit of their compliance efforts if the workforce isn’t educated on the subject. What’s more, educating the staff allows the company to build a culture of compliance.
As such, companies should take more time to settle on basic onboarding introductions. Instead, a proactive strategy that educates, trains, and tests employees consistently are better suited. Modern tools easily complement this recurring and consistent effort. For instance, both education and training can efficiently be handled through the use of a GRC platform- a policy management product. The GRC approach is especially powerful for building a culture of trust and integrity, and here is how it can be used to achieve this.
With a GRC — policy management system, companies can educate and train each employee individually. Some provisions also have a training and attestation system, and with this, possibilities are near endless. Another benefit of this digitized system is easy to access to compliance data. Organizations can implement questionnaires and surveys to test the employees’ compliance knowledge. Based on the shortcomings, companies are able to offer follow-up training or deliver a more targeted solution to ensure standards are maintained.
Continuous monitoring
Educating employees and creating a culture of integrity is just one aspect. In addition, employees should be able to take their learnings and apply them to all business interactions. Continuous monitoring helps organizations review the processes and internal controls for completion, adherence, and effectiveness. Once processes are set up and internal controls are assigned to stakeholders, you need to monitor the compliance programs’ performance continuously. This optimized approach helps maintain the standard of compliance adherence, a benefit company should take advantage of for better results. This is especially important because customers deserve a consistent experience.
Enhanced reporting
In the real world, employees and third parties are often faced with several high-risk areas that traditional training simply can’t train them for. However, through the data reported through a GRC platform, companies can identify weak spots across a spectrum. For instance, a GRC report can pinpoint employee problem areas and use lagging indicators to count non-conformance to predict and prevent future occurrences.
Leading by example
Senior management, board, and aspirational leaders can actively participate in defining the value system and compliance strategy for the organization. When these leaders lead by example, it works wonders for cultivating a culture of compliance, as employees can emulate these positive cues. This is absolutely essential and can be nurtured organically as it follows the ‘Tone from the Top’ approach.
Issue management and remediation
A well-equipped GRC platform will have a provision for issue reporting and case management. The issue and case management provide the ability to track all issues across the organization. This is especially ideal when risks, issues, or disruptions require immediate attention.
