Regulations are constantly changing to keep pace with technological and business changes. As new rules emerge and existing frameworks get updated, organizations are finding it increasingly hard to keep pace with these changes.
In this article, we will look at five practical ways to keep up with these changes.
1. Build a System for Monitoring Regulatory Changes
One of the biggest mistakes that many organizations make is to rely on memory and outdated documents. Unfortunately, this reliance can lead to non-compliance and eventual fines. Instead, create a structured approach to monitoring and set up a system that automatically handles the repetitive tasks.
Here are some pointers to create an automated process.
- Go to the source – Bookmark the website of the regulatory bodies that are required for your business. Set up a schedule to visit this page, typically once every two weeks, to see if there are any updates.
- Automated scanning – Leverage the power of tools like Google Alerts and Talkwalker to monitor the keywords that are relevant for your business. Read through discussions on social media, blog articles, and podcasts to better understand the new provisions and how different companies are implementing them.
- Subscribe to newsletters – Sign up for newsletters like the one from Planet Compliance and other leading law firms to stay abreast of the latest changes happening in the compliance world.
2. Have a Presence at Relevant Events
Industry events are more than just networking, as they offer insights into how leaders approach a regulatory change. These events can genuinely increase your understanding of specific rules because they are explained by experts in a way that is understandable for everyone. No more jargon or technical language that can be ambiguous.
Additionally, you can interact with these experts and ask questions for better clarity. Also, these events are opportunities to talk to other attendees to gain a deeper perspective.
Tip: Prioritize those events where practitioners and regulators are the keynote speakers.
3. Audit Your Processes
Knowing about a regulatory change is only the first step. A more important follow-up is to understand its impact on your organizational processes and what areas must be changed to meet the new regulations.
A good first step in this direction is to do internal audits through which you can identify the gaps and fix them before they are noticed by regulators and other outside parties. In general, it’s a good idea to audit your processes after a major rule change. If there are no major ones, you can stick to a cadence of about once or twice a year.
While doing these internal audits, dedicate adequate time and resources, so the audits are more meaningful. Treat them as an early warning system and not just an administrative exercise that must be checked off your list.
4. Use Specialized Compliance Software
Implementing and tracking all the provisions of a regulation manually can be impossible. It will take up a lot of resources, making the process expensive and even error-prone. This is where it helps to have a specialized compliance software that can help you meet the requirements of specific frameworks.
These compliance software can:
- Track your obligations
- Automate reminders
- Create an audit trail
- Generate reports, and more.
If you’re not sure where to start, PlanetCompliance has reviews of some of the leading tools under different categories.
Also, sign up for demos and free trials offered by most leading software to evaluate how well the tool fits in with your organization’s needs and processes. Based on your user experience and reviews, select an appropriate tool that can boost compliance rates without taking up too many resources.
5. Put Someone in Charge
While it sounds like a no-brainer that someone must be in charge of handling compliance, many organizations tend to skip it over. Often, someone from the legal or administration team is asked to handle compliance temporarily, and this could lead to oversights.
A better option is to assign the responsibility of managing compliance to a dedicated individual or team, as this person becomes an expert in compliance and knows what processes to tweak when there are new changes. Moreover, this dedicated resource becomes the single point of contact for any compliance queries.
Remember, you don’t need a large compliance team; just a handful of well-informed and knowledgeable individuals can help meet compliance requirements.
With these five simple practices, you can easily stay on top of regulatory changes and implement them quickly. Such efforts will be well-appreciated by regulators, investors, clients, and vendors, thereby creating a positive image of your company and building trust in your operations.
Keep Your Clients in the Loop
Before we wrap up, a quick final thought.
When you are making any changes to your internal processes or systems, and if they are expected to impact clients’ operations or communication, make sure to let them know. Early and clear communication is professional courtesy as well as a tool for building long-term relationships.
In short, managing regulatory change is never simple, but with the right systems, tools, and ownership, it becomes far more manageable.