In recent years, regulators and lawmakers have been enacting a growing number of regulations across numerous industries that companies need to comply with. Most of these regulations are imposed to help ensure client or consumer data is kept secure and confidential, as well as to protect critical infrastructures. Examples of such compliance include HIPAA, PCI, CIP and SOX.
Businesses who violate their industry’s imposed regulations are often met with severe legal punishments, including hefty fines. As a result, more and more companies are seeing the increased value in investing in strong compliance programs. These programs not only prevent violations, but may also serve to lessen fines if one has been committed.
Beyond the obvious benefits of avoiding criminal charges and penalties, why then should a business consider compliancy important?
Demonstrating compliancy helps organizations build a positive reputation. The success of any business hinges on its public image. When a company starts facing court cases, the general public tends to lose trust in the company. As a result, sales in products and services eventually drop. Compliance ensures that a company can uphold a positive image and build consumer trust. This also helps build consumer loyalty, since customers are more likely to continue using products or services from a company they find trustworthy.
Compliancy also plays a pivotal role in driving both change and innovation within a business. Many people view compliance as being fundamentally conservative and rigid—a means to restrict conduct. Compliancy, however, is an excellent tool for influencing organizational behavior. Every day behavior is shaped by training and codes of conduct. Those same codes of conduct stem from the values and visions set by management and communicated over time. That being said, having compliance policies but not enforcing them can be almost as hazardous as not having them at all. Embedding policies into a company’s culture requires practical measures through a tailored compliance program.
At M.A. Polce Consulting, we work with businesses to not only build compliance programs which tailor objectives to your specific business needs, but we also aid in maintaining the supporting functions of the programs. Contact us today to see how we can help you work towards your goal of regulatory compliance.
