Best Compliance Software

Guide to Compliance Management Software

Compliance software is a type of software designed to help organizations, both public and private, create policies that they must follow in order to remain in compliance with laws and regulations. Compliance software helps organizations stay on top of all the latest requirements put forth by governmental agencies, industry associations, and other sources. The software is also used to ensure compliance with internal company policies, ethical codes of conduct as well as applicable international standards.

Compliance software helps organizations meet their legal obligations in a cost-effective way by providing information about regulatory changes that might affect their operations. It also involves audits to ensure ongoing compliance with those changes. Compliance software helps companies identify any violations or weaknesses in the organization’s current system before they become costly mistakes. It can also be used for quality assurance purposes so that an organization has confidence that its processes and products are up to standard.

The goal of most compliance programs is to help prevent employees from engaging in unethical or illegal behavior, meaning it goes beyond basic documentation or record-keeping activities such as those associated with financial reporting requirements. Compliance software often includes features like employee training modules, risk assessments and incident tracking tools which are designed to give management visibility into areas where risk might exist within the organization or industry at large. Additionally, compliance software can gauge employee attitudes towards certain topics or identify areas where specific types of training may be needed across the organization’s workforce.

Since different states may have unique laws pertaining to things like data protection protocols or drug testing procedures, some compliance software platforms provide state-specific modules which enable organizations to quickly configure themselves for varying regulatory practices without having to manually adjust settings each time they cross a border or change jurisdictions. This form of “on the fly configuration” can save considerable time while still ensuring ongoing legal adherence across multiple markets and regions.

Compliance management software continuously audits, tracks and monitors whether or not a business’s processes align with consumer standards, organizational policies and applicable local, state and federal laws. These programs facilitate self-monitoring and partnership responsibilities as well as legal obligations.

Programs for corporate compliance reach beyond software. In some industries, including pharmaceutical manufacturing and financial services, a partially automated or hybrid approach to compliance issues helps ensure that nothing critical is missed. Large businesses also rely on these programs to keep processes documented and organized. Some industries might not need software to do this, but with increased regulation, they might need it in the future.

A variety of software types provide this functionality. This guide delves into the options and facilitates your selection of a compliance program to suit your business model and industry of operation.

Compliance Software Categories

Many business owners which types of software are designed for compliance management. There are three types of corporate compliance and oversight tools on the market today, and they include

• Governance, Risk, and Compliance, also known as GRC software
• Compliance software built for a particular industry
• General compliance management software

Let’s take a closer look at each of these options.

GRC

GRC software includes generic compliance management tools that are packaged with a broad set of functions for managing risk and governing corporations. This software handles IT risk management, legal management and business continuity operations.

General Compliance

The all-purpose platforms for corporate compliance focus on general functions for ensuring compliance across nearly all industries.

Industry Compliance

An industry-specific tool allows heavily regulated industries to meet specific legislative requirements and commercial guidelines. Some of the types of industry-specific tools include financial services, industrial manufacturing and healthcare.

This guide focuses on GRC and general compliance platforms. If your business is in a highly regulated niche that requires an industry-specific tool, you can use the filters to find the right solution.

Compliance Software Features

A vast range of industry needs, business processes and regulations are governed by compliance software. This explains the diversity in the functionality of the platforms. Corporate ethics policies, business partner requirements and acceptable use regulations fall under the auspices of this software.

The tools also handle compliance with ISO and OSHA standards as well as general industry regulations. For example, big box retailers may have requirements that suppliers to smaller businesses don’t have to consider. Let’s hone in on the key parts of a compliance management system.

• Audit: These solutions support real-time field reporting. They also deliver systematic workflow and case management and tools for investigating, reporting and resolving compliance problems.
• Regulatory reporting: Compliance reports aggregate issues into visual representations, such as dashboards and scheduled reports. They may facilitate constant monitoring of KPIs for compliance issues on sensitive business processes. These reports make it easier to visualize violations and non-compliant facilities.
• Conflict management: Manage conflicts of interest, including trades initiated by employees and gifts given to team members.
• Controls monitoring: Verify compliance with policies and regulations through workflow engines. These controls document all processes and procedures centrally. They include a built-in escalation process.
• Compliance training: Implement customized and generic online learning modules to train employees on policy compliance.
• Fraud detection: Detect patterns that suggest fraudulent activities in payments, financial statements and other processes. Web forms for risk management controls can also be set up as a front line of defense for whistleblowers and potential fraud reports.
• Support for multiple languages: Set up Interfaces and scripts for employees who don’t speak fluent English.
• Policy management: Write policies, approve workflows and keep track of different versions of guidelines in a global registry with easy-to-track mapping that points to regulations.
• Regulatory change management: Track updates to regulatory information and alerts from government agencies and regulatory organizations. The feeds map to current policies. Track them via XML or RSS feeds.
• Survey: Send self-assessment tools to employees and partners.

GRC and all-purpose/general compliance management solutions cover basics, such as employee codes of conduct.

When your business must follow general standards, an out-of-the-box solution may satisfy your requirements. However, organizations in highly regulated industries will need to closely evaluate industry-specific solutions.

Advantages of Compliance Software

1. Make better decisions: These tools centralize and streamline decision-making processes. This safeguards your firm’s finances and legal integrity. With automatic escalation of compliance violations, the software assigns problems to the correct personnel for investigation and resolution.
2. Built client trust: Customers trust businesses that follow security regulations. They prefer companies with proper certifications and strong records of compliance. Using this software helps you maintain a positive reputation.
3. Automation: Compliance software automates the process of ensuring that your organization is in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. This means that tasks such as data entry, document filing, and reporting are automated, thereby reducing the need for manual labor.
4. Improved Efficiency: Compliance software provides quick access to valuable information and eliminates cumbersome paperwork processes. By streamlining administrative procedures, organizations can save time and money while improving operational efficiency.
5. Accurate Data: Compliance software helps ensure more accurate data by providing a centralized repository for all compliance-related documents and records. Automated workflows reduce errors due to manual input or incorrect interpretation of data.
6. Cost Savings: Implementing a comprehensive compliance strategy requires significant investment in terms of manpower, resources and training costs. However, using compliance software can cut these costs significantly by eliminating the need for costly manual efforts.
7. Risk Mitigation: The use of software solutions makes it easier to assess regulatory changes and take proactive measures to mitigate risk before it becomes an issue. The ability to generate real-time reports on legal requirements helps organizations identify potential risks early on and put mitigation plans into action quickly.
8. Security: Compliance software is designed to protect sensitive data and prevent unauthorized access. Built-in encryption, authentication and two-factor authentication systems further increase the security of your system.

What to Keep in Mind When Evaluating Compliance Software

There are three considerations to keep in mind when selecting compliance management software:

1. Satisfy compliance regulations: The regulations and standards for compliance vary across locations, markets and industries. It’s important to choose a tool that you can customize to your specific needs. Compliance software allows you to make choices based on your industry, geography and market.
2. Ongoing costs: Most tools for compliance management have expenses that go beyond the initial license. The software requires routine updates. It may need repairs for the delivery of ideal results. Consider these maintenance costs in your budget.
3. Compliance vendor reputation: Before choosing a tool, examine the provider’s certification, credentials, track record and customer reviews.

How to Choose the Right Compliance Software

1. Identify Your Compliance Needs: The first step in selecting the right compliance software is to identify your specific compliance needs, such as industry and regulatory requirements. This will help ensure that the program you select meets all of your needs.
2. Research Different Programs: Next, take time to research different programs that could meet your compliance needs. Consider factors such as features, price, customer support, and customer reviews when evaluating each option.
3. Try Before You Buy: Once you’ve identified a few potential solutions, test them out to see which works best for your business. Most programs offer free trial periods or demos so you can make sure the program is a good fit before investing any money in it.
4. Talk To Experienced Users: Reach out to experienced users of the software you’re considering to get their feedback and learn more about how they use it on a daily basis. This can give you valuable insight into whether or not the program would be right for your organization’s needs and goals.
5. Choose A Solution: Finally, after researching different options and talking with experienced users, choose the solution that fits best with your company’s compliance needsand budget requirements. Be sure to review the terms of use before making your decision.

Who Uses Compliance Software?

• Corporate Compliance Officers: These individuals are responsible for ensuring that an organization is following all applicable laws and regulations, as well as the organization’s internal policies and procedures.
• Human Resources Professionals: HR professionals use compliance software to help ensure that they are in compliance with payroll regulations, employee benefits requirements, workplace safety regulations, and other HR-related laws and regulations.
• Financial Services Professionals: Companies in the financial services industry must adhere to a variety of rules and regulations designed to protect consumers. Financial services professionals use compliance software to verify the accuracy of their transactions and ensure that they are in full compliance with the law.
• Legal Professionals: Legal teams often use compliance software to track changes to laws across multiple jurisdictions in order to ensure that their clients or employers remain in compliance with all applicable legal requirements.
• IT Professionals: IT professionals use compliance software to monitor server logs, network activity, user access rights, and other activities related to IT security. This helps them stay on top of potential threats or security breaches before they become a problem.
• Risk Managers: Risk managers use compliance software to identify potential risks within an organization’s operations and systems, track changes in regulatory requirements over time, develop risk mitigation plans, analyze historical data for trends or vulnerabilities, and much more.
• Product Development Teams: Many product development teams use compliance software as part of their quality assurance process by verifying that any new products meet all relevant safety standards prior to release.
• Government Agencies: Federal, state, and local governments often use compliance software to ensure that their operations adhere to all applicable laws and regulations. This includes things like tracking the performance of public contracts and monitoring changes in tax codes.
• Law Enforcement Agencies: Compliance software is often used by law enforcement agencies to help ensure that their investigations are conducted in strict accordance with the law. This includes verifying any search warrants and ensuring that all evidence collected is admissible in court.

How Much Does Compliance Software Cost?

The cost of compliance software varies greatly depending on the specific type of software, the size of your organization, and the scale of your needs. Generally speaking, entry-level compliance solutions can range anywhere from a few hundred dollars a month to a few thousand dollars annually. Mid-level solutions tend to range between $2,500 and $5,000 per year while more comprehensive enterprise compliance suites can easily reach six figures or more a year.

For organizations looking for less expensive solutions to meet limited compliance requirements, there are also some options available in the form of open source products and cloud services. However, it should be noted that these may require significant customization or integration in order to provide effective regulatory support.

At the end of the day, answering how much compliance software costs is largely dependent on what an organization's needs are and how extensive its underlying infrastructure is. Fortunately, most vendors offer various pricing tiers so organizations can find a solution that meets their organizational requirements without breaking their budget.

What Software Does Compliance Software Integrate With?

Compliance software can integrate with many types of software, including financial reporting software, document management systems, communication and collaboration tools, customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, and data analysis programs. Financial reporting software helps organizations manage their finances and ensure accurate accounting records are kept. Document management systems allow businesses to securely store documents and track revisions. Communication and collaboration tools provide employees with a platform to share information in real time. CRM platforms help organizations streamline their customer service operations while ERP solutions enable them to optimize their internal processes. Compliance software can also integrate with regulatory reporting software. Lastly, data analytics programs are used to analyze large amounts of information to uncover pertinent insights that may impact compliance efforts.

Compliance Software Trends

1. Increasing Automation: Compliance software is being increasingly automated to help organizations more quickly and efficiently comply with laws, regulations and policies. Automation also enables organizations to reduce manual processes, such as manual data entry, which can reduce costs.
2. Streamlined Processes: Compliance software helps streamline processes related to compliance by providing tools for tracking compliance requirements, managing documents and records, conducting audits, and monitoring employee performance. This makes it easier for organizations to meet their regulatory obligations while still keeping up with their business operations.
3. Improved Risk Management: Compliance software provides enhanced risk management capabilities that enable organizations to identify areas of potential risk and mitigate them before they become issues.
4. Increased Efficiency: Compliance software helps organizations increase efficiency by reducing the time spent on manual tasks related to compliance activities. This allows organizations to focus their resources on more value-add activities that can drive growth and profitability.
5. Enhanced Data Security: Compliance software provides tools for secure storage of sensitive data, which reduces the risk of unauthorized access or misuse of confidential information. Additionally, some compliance solutions offer encryption capabilities that further protect data from unauthorized access.
6. Improved Regulatory Compliance: Compliance software helps organizations meet their regulatory requirements more easily and efficiently, resulting in reduced fines and penalties for non-compliance.
7. Increased Collaboration: Compliance software allows organizations to share information securely across departments, which can help improve collaboration between teams. Additionally, many compliance solutions provide access permissions that enable authorized personnel to access only the data they need to perform their job duties.
8. Personalized Reporting: Compliance software provides personalized reporting capabilities that enable organizations to create customized reports based on their specific requirements. This helps organizations more easily identify areas of risk and take timely corrective action.