Maintaining a robust IT compliance program demands meticulous attention to numerous details. Teams must diligently monitor the timing and locations for software updates and patches. Questions about data collection from customers and its protection arise, along with considerations about employee cybersecurity training completion and curriculum updates. The breadth of these tasks underscores the need for a robust IT compliance framework within the organisation. The list goes on.
Thanks to increasingly complex threat environments and company IT footprints, this checklist is getting more extensive and challenging to keep up with daily. Moreover, investors and regulators want proof of a company’s cybersecurity and privacy credentials, often in great detail.
Failure to comply amplifies the costs when things go wrong. According to IBM’s 2021 Cost of a Data Breach report, lack of IT compliance increased the average price of a data breach by 51.1% to $5.56 million. Companies also lose money when they lack the security certifications for a contract or bid.
In short, cybersecurity and compliance have converged, and they’re more critical to the bottom line than ever. Discover the drivers behind this trend and learn how a robust IT compliance program can help your company wrangle the details.
GDPR was just the beginning
In 2016, the EU introduced the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), mandating compliance by 2018. This triggered significant investments by companies in time, money, and resources. Brace yourself for more changes, such as anticipated cybersecurity regulations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These forthcoming regulations will necessitate organizations to establish a detailed cybersecurity program. They will also require prompt reporting of significant cyber incidents and disclosure of management’s security efforts and oversight role through public filings and reporting.
Lax certifications leave money on the table.
As the frequency and severity of cyber threats continue to rise, obtaining security certifications becomes increasingly vital for modern businesses. These certifications not only validate robust data protection and privacy practices but also provide external assurance to customers, partners, and investors. Some widely recognised acronyms in this realm, each representing intricate and comprehensive frameworks, include ISO 27001 for managing information security risks like cyber threats, Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), SOC 2 for data storage, HIPAA and HITRUST for healthcare, and PCI-DSS for financial services.
Furthermore, stakeholders and potential clients are now scrutinising the qualifications of individual staff members. This has placed a new onus on companies to assist their employees in attaining certifications such as Certified Cloud Security Professionals or Integrators (ISC2) CISSP credentials and designations from organisations like the Cloud Security Alliance, CompTIA, and the Cloud Credential Counsel. In the realm of RFPs, government procurement, and contract renewals, certifications tied to cloud providers like AWS or Microsoft Azure are crucial. Navigating this complex landscape can be demanding and time-intensive. Nonetheless, failing to provide the certifications customers demand and industries require might lead to missed opportunities for substantial revenue.
Robust IT compliance puts you in control.
Where does your company stand in each of these areas? If you’re using disconnected manual processes, you won’t be able to answer this question promptly. And without a plan in place for achieving visibility, even as the landscape changes, you’ll waste time and resources trying to keep up.
Organisations need to take control to bring order to the chaos, and here’s where a robust IT compliance program comes in. What does such an initiative look like? Think of an IT compliance program like a four-legged stool, enabling your company to:
See what’s going on: Effective decision-making hinges on clear visibility into pertinent regulations and seamless alignment with company operations. Ideally, real-time data, presented in a streamlined format, facilitates leadership’s strategy and oversight
Do more faster: Improved efficiency is another cornerstone of IT compliance. In an area with myriad manual and repetitive tasks, automated workflows can save invaluable buckets of time, freeing up labour and resources for more strategic initiatives. So can a standard controls framework (CCF). A CCF streamlines compliance by Finding similarities among policies, simplifying the framework. This empowers organisations to build a process, application form or report once, then reuse it as similar requirements emerge.
Stay accountable: Externally, auditors want to see accurate records that align with regulatory requirements. Internally, leadership and finance want a view into IT resources against risk and ROI. A robust IT compliance program can help you deliver accurate and timely data.
Seize the opportunity: As customer demand grows for companies with security certifications, a robust IT compliance program becomes vital. Enhance your competitive edge by navigating the latest standards and evaluating how your operations measure up.
The right technology can help your IT compliance program.
Technology solutions can help turn these words into actions for your enterprise. Applications can streamline IT compliance, ensuring your company meets evolving requirements with confidence.
Look for:
- A centralised platform that scales with your needs
- Automated workflows and processes
- The ability to apply a standard controls framework for security certifications and reuse controls multiple times after they’ve been built
- Dashboards that offer executive leadership deep visibility into systems, certifications and gaps
Request a demo today to learn more about what we can do for your organisation.