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What Is Compliance Automation?

Switching to compliance automation software replaces manual tracking with a streamlined system that helps your company stay audit-ready at all times.

Key Takeaways

  • Compliance automation uses AI and software to take over repetitive tasks like evidence gathering and risk assessments, ensuring a company stays aligned with industry regulations without constant manual input.
  • Using compliance automation software allows a business to build automatic workflows for document creation, which ensures that a digital paper trail is always ready for auditors without requiring constant manual effort from employees.
  • Automated monitoring tools can spot security or legal problems before they become expensive failures.
What is compliance automation?

In compliance, doing the work isn’t enough if you cannot prove it was done. That idea is similar to the well-known philosophical debate: “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it still make a sound?” In other words, you can’t just follow industry standards and implement strong controls; your organization must also maintain an audit trail with extensive documentation to prove the work was done. 

This time-consuming process accounts for a significant portion of compliance costs. In response, many enterprises turn to cutting-edge compliance automation technology. What is compliance automation, and how does it help?

Compliance Automation Explained

Automation means using software, AI, and other technology to perform tasks instead of manual input. Compliance automation uses these tools to streamline the processes involved in regulatory compliance, such as evidence gathering and risk assessments. For example, compliance automation software allows enterprises to build automatic workflows for document creation, ensuring that stakeholders consistently fill out the correct forms and store them securely.

The Purpose of Compliance Automation

AI tools can ensure compliance while simplifying complex processes. Trying to carry out necessary tasks the traditional way can easily overwhelm risk management and cybersecurity personnel. Manual third-party due diligence quickly turns into an endless stream of documents, but automated compliance workflows can perform the heavy lifting without human intervention.

Automating compliance also reduces the burden on enterprise teams. Decision-makers can find the insights, metrics, and records they need in minutes instead of hours. Rather than replacing experts, automation platforms make professionals more effective and promote risk-aware decisions.

Types of Compliance Automation

Compliance automation applications include data processing and analytics.

Not all compliance automation technologies are the same. Task and process automation often work differently from AI and ML tools. Some common compliance automation applications include:

  • Workflow automation: Setting up rules and algorithms for compliance tasks
  • Data processing: Converting unstructured data into organized records and extracting key information automatically
  • Documentation: Establishing document workflows for centralized records storage and audit trails
  • Compliance monitoring: Tracking controls, compliance status, and user behavior in a variety of systems
  • Analytics: Surfacing critical metrics related to risk, vendor management, cybersecurity, and compliance programs  
  • Mapping: Detecting bottlenecks and areas where compliance obligations overlap

The capabilities of compliance automation software vary. Simpler tools may focus on a single area of compliance, whereas enterprise platforms often include wide-ranging integrations.

Benefits of Compliance Automation Software

Non-compliance is vastly more expensive than investing in compliance. On average, a single compliance failure costs nearly three times what organizations spend on compliance.

Automation software can make your program even more cost-effective. And by reducing bottlenecks, compliance platforms maximize the productivity of in-house professionals, allowing teams to focus on higher-value tasks that have a real impact on governance, risk, and compliance  — not exhausting busywork.

Automated monitoring tools excel at detecting and correcting non-compliance. This can convert a reactive program — one that only responds after the damage is done — into a constantly evolving framework that identifies risks and implements strategic solutions.

Compliance Automation Built Around Your Regulatory Needs

Compliance automation can be built around your organization's needs.

To extract the maximum value from compliance automation, your organization needs a platform that fits your chosen frameworks, challenges, and objectives. This versatility is what sets Compyl apart. Combining user-friendly tools and deep customizability, Compyl helps enterprise compliance teams implement automated workflows, controls, metrics tracking, and multiple frameworks seamlessly.

Choose compliance automation software that can scale and evolve as your program does. Request a demo today.

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