5 Ways to Ensure Continuous Compliance in Your Business
For businesses to function, they must be in compliance with the regulations and laws that apply to them. Failure to comply can result in crippling fines and penalties, as well as damage to your company’s reputation. Fortunately, maintaining continuous compliance doesn’t have to be difficult if you know what steps to take – which is why these five ways to ensure continuous compliance in your business will help you maintain your company’s legal status and avoid violations of any kind.
1) The importance of compliance
The regulatory environment is both evolving and constantly changing, which is why it’s important to ensure you’re in compliance with the latest laws. But we’re not talking about regulatory obligations like tax filings and payroll, or environmental reports – the Continuous Security changes are more broadly applicable and affect the entire landscape of security from personal data theft prevention measures and network security configurations to assessing threats and responding.
That’s where this blog comes in – it provides examples of what continuous compliance can look like for your business and tips on what you can do if you need a little help getting up-to-date. We also have many other blogs on related topics like leadership & cybersecurity that are worth checking out!
2) The need for a maintenance plan
It is important for any business, including web development firms, to maintain a plan that ensures compliance with the latest industry best practices. Continuous Security will help you keep up with new security trends as they emerge. Whether it is keeping your software updated, running a scan on your site periodically or following secure data disposal procedures, there are things you can do right now that will allow you to take care of those obligations and ensure your organization remains compliant.
3) Document everything (from day 1)
Writing a blog post helps promote your business and can ensure that you have documentation of the services you provide from day 1. Here are 5 ways to make sure that you have continuous compliance in your business:
(1) Create a plan for disaster recovery
(2) Add continuous security
(3) Track logins and permissions for every account
(4) Review existing passwords regularly
(5) Remove personal information or sensitive company data
4) Get the help you need
As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to keep your company on the right side of the law. One way you can do this is by partnering with an expert who can guide you through the various regulations and paperwork requirements that apply to your industry. For example, if you’re a small real estate development company, one partner could help with permits and another could assist with tax compliance matters.
5) Consider your personal liability
It’s not just enough to do your best and cross your fingers. You need to ensure that you’re continuously compliant with all relevant regulations. Failure to do so could leave you open for liability if something goes wrong (or right, depending on the situation). Make sure you have continuous compliance by making a habit of following these five steps:
– Know what is required and when
– Take time to understand regulations – make a plan around what needs doing and by when, make use of checklists where appropriate
– Regularly review the plan and rework where necessary
– Meet deadlines If things are urgent, take action immediately; otherwise give yourself some lead time so that you can still deal with situations before they become problems
