Compliance is one of today’s biggest competitive differentiators — here’s why

November 2, 2022

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Compliance is one of today’s biggest competitive differentiators — here’s why

Presented by Laika

Compliance is the foundation organizations need to grow organically, build trust with customers and partners and increase the bottom line. In this VB On-Demand event, learn how to get started on your compliance journey – and turn it into a competitive advantage.

Watch free on-demand now!

At its heart, corporate and regulatory compliance is cut and dry. It detects violations of rules and guards against them, protecting your organization from fines and lawsuits, and it helps build barriers against cybercrime. It spans both internal policies and procedures, as well as external federal and state laws. But corporate compliance isn’t just about managing immediate risk from bad actors — it’s essential for the long-term growth of the company, says Cristina Bartolacci, strategic compliance architect at Laika.

“There’s a lot of emphasis right now on ensuring you’re operating in a capacity that has both operational and technical security in mind, so that you can scale your organization and prove to potential partners, or anybody who is going to be using your product or service, that you’re taking risks seriously,” says Bartolacci. “It’s kind of like this gold standard of operational effectiveness.”

Why build a compliance program?

There are huge benefits to building a solid compliance program early on in a company’s growth process, as it lets you grow and mature those controls over time, as the company’s needs and external factors changes. While it might initially be a big lift, it sets up an organization for a more seamless compliance journey when it’s operationalized and ingrained in the company culture. But no matter when you launch a compliance strategy, it has a big impact across the company.

“It’s about the people, the organization, the growth strategy, that whole 360 view,” Bartolacci says. “There are issues that will come up around scalability. You can potentially lose a partner’s trust and ultimately stunt your growth overall, I think, if you aren’t taking it seriously early on. That eventually does have that ripple effect across the organization.”

It’s also a powerful differentiating factor, for instance, when two companies go head-to-head in the procurement process. Security is a huge focus of vendor due diligence. If you can’t prove any certifications or security metrics are in place, the relationship stops there. And the impact is the same even when you’re trying to sell a product or service.

“You will seem almost amateur in some capacities if you don’t have it, especially if everybody around you does,” she points out. “And it helps you build a high standard of operational effectiveness.”

How compliance transforms operations

Compliance and the compliance journey requires clear-cut policies, procedures and documentation — essentially a blueprint for how the entire organization should operate, from how a department is organized and run to standards for employee conduct.

“Building a compliance program allows you to establish a tone around how you’re going to organize, facilitate and ultimately execute on your controls and your policies,” Bartolacci says. “It forces you to put best practices into place, and exert as much control as possible over factors like human error.”

It’s an especially effective strategy to put in place as a company grows. When procedures are informed by best practices and they’re baked into how a department or team operates, this helps to ensure there’s no drift or dropped steps during any project lifecycle, whether it’s a team of five engineers or 30.

“When a company gets so much larger, it’s a lot harder to be in the nitty-gritty details,” she explains. “The details are really where a lot of this stuff matters. That’s why I always encourage customers to do it early and do it often.”

Putting a compliance strategy in place

Ingraining a compliance and security program takes some time, and shouldn’t be rushed out and imposed on employees without education and thoughtful introduction to what compliance means, how it works and how they fit into the strategy.

“Nothing makes everybody more resentful than needing to sprint to the finish line, having this looming dark cloud,” Bartolacci says. “Because sometimes compliance can feel like that for people.”

Executing a strategy mindfully on a company’s own timeline also produces a program that’s a lot more holistic and representative of the company as a whole, rather than a slapped-on band-aid.

“It’s important to know that it’s easier to walk before you need to run, getting a handle on some of these things at a company’s own pace, rather than a pace that’s set for them by a deadline,” she says. “The customers who really take matters into their own hands and do this on their own time end up being a lot more successful because they’re proactive rather than reactive.”

To learn more about setting off on your own compliance journey, an in-depth look at what it actually entails to ensure your company and employees are protected and insights from real-world case studies, watch this VB On-Demand event now!