How to future-proof your regulatory compliance strategy

A business’ compliance strategy is important to the lifespan of its business. 

Keeping compliance with a strategy will help any business navigate the various regulations and compliance strategy issues that might occur throughout a business’ lifetime.

If the business operations didn’t comply with regulations there are a range of possible consequences that it could suffer, like fines, lawsuits, and disgruntled employees.

An effective compliance strategy is instrumental to a sustainable business, as changed will occur throughout time, adding regulations, affecting businesses, which they will then need to adapt to.

But when so much is changing, is it possible to make your compliance strategy adapt to everything? Probably not. Like anything else in business, and in life, the best we can do is prepare for the worst.

So, how do you ensure as much protection as possible? Read on to find out how you can future-proof your compliance strategy.

Identify high risk areas for compliance monitoring

In order to make it easier to keep your business safe from the negative consequences of not following compliance, you should look around your company and identify the areas that are of the highest risk. Sometimes these are obvious, like a restaurant, which will have to prioritize food regulations over a lot of other areas. Other businesses might have to map out business processes to determine where the most risk is.

Create a defined compliance vision

Businesses will need a detailed but defined vision of their compliance issues and strategies to move forward. What are you looking to do with a compliance strategy? Identifying high risk areas, creating a culture of constant compliance, etc.? Focus on these ideas as you create your strategy going forward.

This might align with your business’ strategic vision and goals, like creating a more welcoming environment for a more diverse team of employees. In other case it might go against current workings, like looking for sustainable means of production.

Predict and detect unknown risks

As mentioned, the world is changing every day, and that will have an effect on business. Take the GDPR, for example. A few years ago, no one knew what it meant, and now it is implemented on every website.

There is no way you can predict every change in the future, but business owners knew that the GDPR change was coming, for example, because lawmakers were discussing it long before it was implemented.

Plus, organisations are privy to a vast amount of data that indicate changes and trends within a company. It would make sense to use predictive data analytics to spot emerging risks within the company and therefore prepare for the upcoming risk.

Drive improvements with the compliance chain

Businesses can maintain their reputation within their industry by engaging regulators, auditors, and other stakeholders in their compliance programs. Not only will it make sure that no effort to comply goes unnoticed, but they will be able to prove that there have been attempts to avoid any risks of corruption, fraud, and other non-compliance issues, creating a more trustworthy environment should any issue arise.

Create decisions around compliance

When getting into the finer details, consider compliance before anything else. It will create a mature approach to decision making that will greatly aid the business in the long run.

If your business decisions are created around compliance, it stands that the decisions in your company will be for the greater good of the company, since they will follow regulations.

In turn, stakeholders can identify problems that might arise when it comes to regulations or reputations and take steps to avoid negative consequences.