When you run a business, no matter what business it is, you have to stay compliant. In other words, you need to stick to the rules that come from various areas such as government and licensing bodies – some of them will be things that every business has to abide by, and other ones will be specific to your sector or nice.
Whatever you might think of the compliance rules you’re given, the fact is that if you don’t go along with them, your business could be in serious trouble, and, depending on what rules you’re breaking, so could you. The rules are there for a reason, and whether it’s safety, security, privacy, or anything else, it’s essential you follow them.
This might not sound too hard – you just learn what the rules are, then make sure you don’t break them – but it’s often more of a challenge than you might think. For one thing, there are usually so many different ways you’re asked to be compliant in business that it can be impossible to remember them all, even if you’re more than willing to learn them, and for another, compliance changes often when new regulations and ways of working come along, so even if you did learn them all, you’d constantly have to be re-learning over and over. With that in mind, it could be that using technology to help you stay on top of things is a good idea – read on to find out more.
Use Automation
Imagine if everything (or at least a lot of things) in your business were automated, and that automation meant you didn’t have to worry about compliance because each process and system you worked on would automatically be in line with all the rules… it sounds like a dream come true, but what it actually is is a way to use tech to stay compliant, and the tech we’re talking about is automation.
When you use automation tech, you can make all the work you do fall in line with any guideline that might come out and then just forget about it. If you’ve ever heard the term ‘set and forget’, this is precisely the kind of thing it relates to!
Real-Time Monitoring
Even if you do want to use automation wherever possible, it’s still wise to have some checks and balances in place, just in case. Things can still go wrong, and no system is fallible, especially when you’re in the middle of making changes. Plus, you won’t be able to use automation for everything, and when humans are involved (as they will be when something can’t be automated), there’s more chance of a mistake being made and compliance not being followed.
That’s when real-time monitoring can make a difference and help out massively in terms of making sure your business is sticking to the compliance rules for your sector and beyond. When you use technology to monitor your business in real-time, you’ll be able to spot the moment something isn’t right (and isn’t compliant), giving you the chance to make changes quickly and, hopefully, not have too many issues (and ideally, none at all).
The great thing about this idea is that it’s not just a way to stay compliant. That is important, obviously, but by having checks and balances in place, you can always be on the lookout for ways to improve your business as well, and that’s vital when it comes to getting ahead of the competition, ensuring your team is happy, and keeping your customers loyal.
Secure Document Management
Something that’s always going to play a big part in compliance is making sure the documents you have in and for your business are safe and secure, and it could be that a PDF SDK (software development kit) deals with that for you from any perspective and from every angle.
These kits come equipped with a range of different features, from strong encryption to password protection and even digital signatures. By using these handy tools, you can make sure that all your documents are safe and kept private, only to be read by the people who you want to read them. Plus, even if they did happen to fall into the wrong hands, it would be tricky for a hacker or thief to get into them and use the information for any kind of scam, identity theft, or malicious acts revolving around your business.
Using PDF SDKs doesn’t just boost your security, but it also makes things a lot more efficient when it comes to showing compliance as well, which is always a good thing in any business and for any reason – the more efficient you can be, the easier everything becomes.
Collaboration Tools
Compliance shouldn’t just be one person’s responsibility in a business (although one person can have ultimate control over it – and that actually makes sense in the grand scheme of things), but instead, it should be something everyone works towards. After all, when you have a number of different people working in a number of different places and departments, if everyone can do their bit to ensure the business stays compliant, it makes life a lot easier for everyone, especially compliance managers.
That’s why collaboration tools can be another great piece of tech that you can use to your advantage to stay compliant in your business. Using collaboration software means you can stay in touch with all the different people and departments you need to, ensuring they have the most up-to-date information about compliance and the rules and regulations they have to follow. When everyone’s on the same page about compliance, you’ll find things are a lot smoother, safer, and positive.
Employee Training
Employee training comes in many forms, but, of course, it can come in the form of tech and could include eLearning software, for example. We’ve mentioned how collaboration is important so everyone’s on the same page, but they need to get to that point to begin with, and that’s why training needs to be carried out.
Teaching everyone how to be and stay compliant is vital, and using technology to make the task quicker, more specific, and perhaps even fun, can make a big difference.
