Modern Trends Happening in Corporate Compliance & Risk Management

Corporate compliance and risk management is a constantly changing field. Companies are forced to develop processes that can pivot on a moment’s notice or risk becoming non-compliant. The fees associated with non-compliance can be extreme, along with the damage to the company’s reputation. 

While the last couple of years has produced unprecedented business disruptions, the main priorities for corporate compliance departments remain the same. Here are some current trends in risk management and compliance risk to help you stay ahead of the curve and protect your company.

Business Continuity Risk

Business continuity is of primary importance to the vast majority of corporations. Specifically, the popular trend is to maintain low risk regarding supply chain and cyber disruptions. To better mitigate these compliance risks, officers must take a holistic approach and acknowledge the interdependence of organizational and operational risk.

As more companies experience volatility within their ecosystems, the resulting uncertainty will lead to a search for solutions. Refining automation and processes across departments to become more efficient and cost-effective will assist in lowering cyber disruptions and supply chain risk. 

The key is to develop more efficient internal controls across an entire regulatory environment to minimize risks. If properly and proactively implemented, your business can avoid the unpleasant situation of maintaining operations while overseeing significant internal change amidst a devastating crisis.

Data Privacy

Privacy and combating data piracy are the name of the game globally. Forming careful policies around data privacy and exclusively working with secure third-party companies is vital. Standard risk aversion requires upping information security standards.

To ensure that your data privacy policy and compliance program are sufficiently broad, consider adopting a popular privacy framework and modifying it. Some well-known choices to use as a template include:

• NIST Privacy Framework
• OECD Privacy Framework
• ISO 27001
• Generally Accepted Privacy Principles
• Fair Information Practice Principles

Companies can also help prevent data piracy by only entrusting their sensitive information to secure third parties. For example, software used for document storage should have optimal platform security for its cloud servers, like Microsoft Azure Server Networks. Many large organizations use MS Azure to keep their data safe since it is one of the most secure work environments.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Programs

DEI programs focus on culture and values, making the jump to compliance and ethics easy. Updating these programs to fold into healthy compliance and enterprise risk management practices is a great opportunity for departments. 

One method of improving your company’s DEI program is by including clear and specific statement goals. Many companies do not understand the importance of DEI statement goals, resulting in DEI programs with vaguely stated goals that lack specificity. 

Proactive communication of your explicit DEI statement goals should also be a priority. Consistent social media posts and corporate website content are effective strategies to achieve this objective.

To determine where to focus DEI compliance resources and staff, a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of your company may be helpful. Consider beginning with something small and easily achievable to gain momentum. Some possibilities include:

• Adding pronouns to email signatures
• Modifying all company policies and procedures with gender-neutral language

Technology Training & Updated Policies

Evolving and updated technology will continue to be vital to many corporate departments. With new technologies comes the importance of tech training and updating internal policies. Corporations will emphasize focus on forming the most comprehensive training and inclusive policies. Also, updated technology training can easily fold into the compliance risk assessment process.

With the emergence of new and evolving risks, there is increased importance on adapting employee training. Some examples of topics to cover include:

• COVID-19 (protocols and compliance requirements)
• Contemporary harassment and discrimination 
• Diversity and inclusion approaches

The emergence of automation solutions can also benefit your compliance department. For example, an entity management software platform with a single point of truth enables companies to simplify their management workflow. In addition, by organizing all of your entity filing documentation in a centralized document repository, your compliance team can easily access them and collaborate on necessary updates.

Corporate Compliance and Risk Management with Filejet

Compliance risk management is a continuously evolving challenge. From business continuity risk to technology training, companies will continue to feel the impact of corporate compliance trends. Companies that fail to address these trends will be at a competitive disadvantage and could suffer significant financial or reputational damage. 

For complete entity lifecycle management and automation from a single platform, Filejet is the SOC2 compliant software solution you need. With Filejet, you’ll be able to manage compliance in multiple jurisdictions and complete compliance tasks directly on the platform. By receiving automated reminders, your company will never miss a filing deadline or fee payment and will always stay compliant.To learn more about our services, contact us today.