Depending on what industry your company is a part of, there will be various compliance laws, such as Sarbanes-Oxley or HIPAA, that will impact the manner in which your company can legally operate. Companies, such as hospitals, software companies, or banks, that handle sensitive customer information usually have to adhere to such rules and standards when handling this information. Not only that, but different states often set their own respective industry regulations. Therefore, companies must be able to meet different regulatory requirements across various industries and states.
Most companies attempt to stay on top of changing laws and regulations through inefficient and unsafe manual methods. Unsurprisingly, this often leads them astray and unable to keep up with industry regulations.
One of the most effective solutions to this issue is for companies to switch to implementing compliance automation, a software application that simplifies compliance procedures by using artificial intelligence features and technology to help companies stay in line with industry laws and regulations. In this blog post, Savvior will explain how Pittsburgh software companies can use compliance automation to their advantage.
How Compliance Automation Can Help Pittsburgh Software Companies
By switching to automation, Pittsburgh software companies can reduce administrative costs, conduct error tracking and auditing, stay on top of security protocol violations using regular activity reports, and review and monitor user accounts. Most importantly, however, is the ability to assign specific roles and privileges to different team members and restrict user access to certain files when necessary. This prevents critical errors from occurring due to a lack of organization within the process. Not only that, but a significant amount of time and resources are saved as a result.
While transferring information stored from manual efforts into automated digital processes can seem daunting at first, they are more cost-effective in the long run. Once your company does this, you can access your company’s compliance status and audit information in a single dashboard, rather than being forced to rifle through piles of spreadsheets. You can also make risk management decisions based on real-time data and implant uniform compliance policies across different computing platforms such as physical servers, private clouds, public clouds, and containers.
Why Companies Should Make the Switch to Compliance Automation Software
Under a manual process, it can be challenging to control who has access to what documents and which team members have the authority to edit compliance reports.
A popular, but unsafe method for reviewing and storing compliance-related data involves entering information into an Excel spreadsheet. A software company may print out a spreadsheet listing all of the compliance laws they are trying to follow and tailor themselves toward, before having an employee physically check off each document they review. The risk for error only increases when multiple people have access to and are able to edit this spreadsheet. Catching errors will be difficult under this method, even with the most cautious of people working on the report.
But with an automated digital workflow, organizations only have to worry about stamping a document with a date, time, and name of the reviewer to verify that it has been reviewed and approved. This electronic process eliminates the risk of errors while allowing the company to provide proof that they have conducted the required compliance review.
How Software Companies in Pittsburgh Can Make the Switch to Compliance Automation
Companies, including Savvior, can help Pittsburgh software companies transition into compliance automation by first reviewing their client’s security policies. While doing so, they will also research relevant regulations governing the company’s industry, company accounts and inventories, and its own security measures. They will then copy this information into compliance automation software in order to detect any violations being made by the company.
Since regulations and laws usually change, the compliance automation will allow its knowledge base of compliance regulations to be updated and changed accordingly. This makes it easier for internal auditors and senior management to keep track of compliance processes and update company practices accordingly to help the company avoid compliance fines or breaches.
Best Practices in Compliance Automation for Software Companies in Pittsburgh
For companies that are new to compliance automation, it may be helpful to examine best practices for using this new automation. Here are a few helpful tips for businesses who want to make the most out of their new compliance automation process.
-
Make you limit access to old documents in order to avoid confusing or unnecessary changes from taking place.
-
Turn version control on for documents that are to be edited by various team members. This allows you to see who made a revision to a document as well as when they made it.
-
When sending out a document for review, make sure you are sending the working document out rather than the original document. This prevents members of your team from accidentally creating and working on different versions of the document rather than the main document.
-
Don’t forget to check the statute of limitations for document retention. This will prevent your company from risking security breaches as well as accidental non-compliance with privacy regulations.
What to Keep in Mind
If you want to ensure that your company is following industry regulations and laws in the most accurate and efficient manner possible, then it’s time to switch to compliance automation. Savvior, a firm that has helped numerous Pittsburgh software companies make the change, can help you transition to compliance automation too. For more information, contact one of our team members today.
