All businesses require a reliable compliance management solution that helps them mitigate non-compliance risks. The increasing amount of data generated and frequent regulatory changes make it mandatory for organisations to rely on automation for effective compliance management. The ability of a compliance management system to simplify record-keeping along with business operations and compliance procedures makes them irreplaceable.
Irrespective of the size of your business, you must comply with governing rules and regulations and having the right tool at your disposal can take the pain out of activities to meet this requirement. But, selecting the right tool is a challenging feat given the endless list of vendor and technology options available to choose from.
To make things easier, we have prepared a list of the most important things you must consider when selecting the right compliance management software for your business in Australia. Let us have a look.
How To Select the Best Compliance Management Software?
1. Company requirements
The first and the most important consideration when implementing new software is the clear vision of requirements. The organisation needs to ascertain what functions they require based on their business. This function list helps identify what features they require in the new software, and it must also align with your Governance, Risk management and Compliance strategy. Comparing software features and prices comes later.
2. Industry Experience
The next consideration requires organisations to dive deeper into vendor information. Buying and implementing new software includes investing capital and time. You want to make sure you are supporting this in the right software vendor. A renowned vendor with a higher market presence and industry experience is usually preferred over a new company providing automation solutions.
3. Ease of use
Any software tool packed with high-end features will only provide effective results if it is easy to use and navigate. Compliance management software often comes with extensive features, but you must consider if those features can be accessed easily. Ease of use can be a deciding factor when selecting new compliance management software.
4. Technology
Just like frequently changing regulations, the technological resources used to create a compliance management system also change with time. You must ensure that the technology a vendor offers is up to date. Also, the new system might have some specific platform requirements, so you must ensure it is feasible for an organisation-wide integration, or are you required to update existing systems first? This will also add or subtract from the costs of implementing the new compliance management solution across your organisation.
5. Customer Support
Ongoing and real-time customer support is an essential addition to the services you want to avail from the software vendor. This requirement becomes more critical when organisations operate across various locations and time zones. Any employee or team facing issues using a feature of the system needs a quick response to problems or questions. A vendor providing round-the-clock support will help with this scenario.
6. Security
Along with other features, security plays an important role. As compliance management data and information fall under one of the most sensitive resources of your organisation, security must also be a top priority. The new compliance management system must keep all data safe with robust data security features to avoid any potential data breach.
7. Scalability
Every organisation has a growth strategy. The system you plan to invest in must be able to support additional employee numbers, locations and the amount of data you will need to process if your business grows.
8. Affordability
When buying compliance management software, you must compare the actual costs of buying versus the savings or profits you can make using it and whether it matches your current financial plans. Investing higher or lower than your technological requirements can also create issues in the future.
The takeaway:
Selecting the best workplace compliance management system is a complex process. As compliance management plays a vital role in the growth of your business and has many available options to select based on different vendors, choosing the right one becomes more difficult. You must consider many factors before investing in an opportunity. If you are searching for the right software for your organisation, contact Sentrient today. We offer an array of powerful features combined in our online workplace compliance management system that can help you stay ahead of your compliance requirements.