How to Stay Current with Regulatory Change

Working in a heavily regulated industry, only one thing remains constant – Change.   With the dawn of Dodd Frank, regulatory reform has brought in a new wave of change in the financial industry.  Industry Regulations are the foundation of a financial entities compliance program, so if a regulation or requirement changes then the compliance program needs to change as well.  In turn, staying abreast of new or updated regulations is a key component of implementing a robust compliance program.

“Everything changes and nothing stands still” – Plato

My experience with change in the financial industry has been a wearying journey.  Working in one of the oldest professions in addition to being the most conservative, financial industries tend to hold on tight to their conservative ways including antiquated recordkeeping and manual processes.  I have seen compliance departments manually track regulations and use numerous tools such as regulatory updates via email, capturing industry news through webinars or attending conferences, in which the notification process is delayed as this, is more of a “catchup” mechanism, instead of a proactive attempt in staying ahead of regulatory reform.  Another issue with this type of collection of updates is that all of this industry information can lead to information overload resulting in a boggy pond of data and not knowing when and where to implement change.

So how can you expedite and properly manage all of these updates and changes?  How do you live in a proactive environment of regulatory change and effectively implement change management?  Well, to start off with, in this new era of computer systems, software and smartphones, ideally you can use these systems to enhance your performance and to speed up your data collection process and maybe even automate some key tasks to implement change in a quicker turnaround time.  We are in the boom of a new generation of software.  Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) software is in the forefront of software developers as they see large banks falling to regulatory fines as they are unable to implement a proper compliance program.

Living in a Brave New World…

So let’s go back to where a compliance program starts… It starts with staying current on regulatory requirements.  An ideal GRC software will use all necessary requirements as a foundation, which may include international, federal, state laws or even internal policies.  A functional software will even go a step further and integrate regulatory updates with industry news and immediately notify you of any necessary changes within 24 hours of the regulatory change.  This function would take place of the weeks or even months of manual research done by a department to stay abreast of these requirements; in turn providing this same department with more time and opportunity to actually implement any necessary changes.  What else can an ideal GRC Software do? Well, it would also have the capability to automate tasks and keep track of functions assigned to other managers and/or teams and ensure they are completed within a specified time period.  Imagine having the power to track all necessary compliance functions in one platform and to do this in a week’s or even days’ time vs. months and months of manually tracking change management.  This is just the start of a few ideas a GRC Software can do, imagine all the other possibilities… policy management, case management, risk management, etc…   This software would offer the opportunity to efficiently live in a dynamic and proactive environment.

One size fits all… not so much

How do you go about in finding a software tool that will fit in your business and within your corporate environment? Shopping around for new software tools can be overwhelming and cumbersome plus the idea of converting manual processes into automated functions can be daunting.  So where do you begin? Well I think the KISS acronym is important to keep in mind… ALWAYS, always, always… “keep it simple, stupid”— pardon my French.  Start with what you consider as your foundation, which are usually regulations, internal policies and procedures.  Next consider your processes, what are key processes or procedures that you need help in managing.  Also, consider reporting requirements and recurring items you must track on a yearly or monthly basis.  Lastly, risk factors must be contemplated and tracked for ongoing risk assessments.  All of these items are a start when creating an ideal software.  Next you would incorporate your budget… how much are you willing to spend to manage your risk and change management?  How much would you save on the cost and time of manually managing change management vs automation?  How much would you save on possible fines for noncompliance?

Yes it may sound overwhelming in the forefront, however, once you work through the foundation and find the suitable system that will help you achieve excellence in compliance, in the long run you will save a lot of time and money.

So let me help you out… here is a start to compliance excellence…

360factors inc.

360factors is a cloud based Regulatory Risk and Compliance Management Software Company.  360factor’s platform, Predict360, uses unique mapping and cognitive technologies to provide regulatory insight, predict risks and improve operational excellence, sustainability and margins. Predict360 vertically integrates regulatory information, policies and procedures management, enterprise risk management, audit management, case management, training management and provides visibility into all risk and compliance areas for Compliance, Governance and Risk Executives, yet provides user friendly pre-configured tools to functional managers enabling them to manage their day-to-day risk and compliance tasks, improving efficiency, agility quality, productivity and enabling a culture of excellence in regulatory compliance.

Please let us know if you would be interested in a demo and get you started on the path to an ideal Regulatory Change Management system.