As the regulation landscape continues evolving, businesses are turning to Compliance as a Service (CaaS) to optimize compliance tasks, reduce risks, and control costs while remaining focused on key business goals.
As local, state, national, and global regulations continue to grow more complex and challenging to navigate, businesses find it increasingly difficult to maintain compliance without sacrificing efficiency. Keeping up with evolving requirements, from privacy laws like GDPR to industry-specific regulations like Dodd-Frank, can drain time and resources. Compliance as a Service (CaaS) offers a powerful solution, allowing businesses to delegate compliance management to experts who can ensure real-time updates and tailored support. In this article, we’ll explore how CaaS helps organizations reduce risks, control costs, and remain compliant while focusing on their core business objectives.
What is Compliance as a Service?
Compliance as a Service (CaaS) is a service model in which organizations delegate ongoing compliance management functions to a specialized partner. By outsourcing these tasks, businesses can efficiently meet their compliance obligations in the rapidly growing and changing regulatory ecosystem—without having to maintain the expense of an internal team of experts solely dedicated to regulatory deliverables.
CaaS creates a sturdy foundation on which to build a compliance structure, reducing risk of non-compliance and legal issues with a customizable set of widgets as subject matter experts partner with you to build your own vision of compliance.
CaaS expands on Data Privacy as a Service (DPaaS)—which solely focuses on safeguarding personal data and aligning with worldwide data privacy regulations— by covering the full spectrum of a business’ compliance requirement needs. CaaS can include a wide range of topics from data privacy, safety, and accessibility standards to environmental, financial, and technical regulations.
Consider this 3-phased approach to ensuring successful long-term implementation:
- Discovery, assessment, and readiness: Identify the full scope of your organization’s regulatory commitments and assess its present compliance levels.
- Alignment and optimization: Align people, processes, and technologies with applicable industry standards to optimize processes for maximum efficiency.
- Governance: Implement ongoing monitoring and reporting to ensure continuous compliance as the regulatory landscape evolves.
Why more businesses are turning to Compliance as a Service
Increasing regulatory complexity
The regulatory ecosystem is expanding at a breakneck pace, with national, global, and industry-specific regulations becoming ever more intricate. Businesses must now navigate compliance requirements across a wide range of areas, including:
- Data privacy: GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy laws mandate strict data protection measures.
- Transparency: Regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) require organizations to maintain specific financial reporting standards.
- Accessibility: The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ensure digital platforms are accessible to all users, particularly those with disabilities.
- Industry-specific regulations: Examples include HIPAA in healthcare, Dodd-Frank in financial services, and WMP in utilities.
- Technology-specific regulations: Legislatures and regulatory bodies are developing requirements to ensure the ethical and proper use of emerging technologies such as AI, IoT, cloud computing, and blockchain.
As the matrix of regulatory obligations becomes more complex, businesses face increasing pressure to ensure real-time compliance, driving the need for more efficient solutions like CaaS.
Specialized expertise
CaaS providers offer highly specialized expertise that can be difficult to hire in or maintain internally. These partners not only stay up to date with the latest regulatory changes, but also have access to the tools and technologies—such as AI, machine learning, and automation—needed to enhance and streamline compliance tracking and reporting. By partnering with a CaaS provider, businesses gain access to deep knowledge and cutting-edge technology solutions, ensuring they remain compliant without the need to continuously manage internal compliance teams.
Cost efficiency and resource management
One of the most compelling reasons for adopting CaaS is the potential for significant overall cost savings. Building and maintaining an in-house compliance team is expensive, especially as regulations multiply.
CaaS reduces the need for full-time staff dedicated solely to compliance, allowing businesses to allocate their resources more efficiently. Rather than continually hiring and managing experts to maintain their regulatory commitments in a changing world, organizations can leverage external services that provide dedicated compliance management at a fraction of the overall cost.
Key benefits of CaaS
Scalability and flexibility
As companies grow or expand into new markets, compliance requirements often become more numerous and complex. CaaS solutions can easily adapt to these changes, providing tailored compliance support based on the specific requirements of the industry, the geographic location, and other factors.
Real-time monitoring and updates
CaaS partners offer continuous real-time monitoring and updates on regulatory shifts. This proactive approach helps organizations stay one step ahead of evolving laws and avoid being caught off guard.
Reduced risk of non-compliance
Non-compliance can have serious financial and reputational consequences. CaaS reduces this risk by using automation tools that detect potential compliance gaps before they can turn into larger problems.
Key considerations for choosing a CaaS provider
Selecting the right Compliance as a Service partner is essential for ensuring effective and sustainable management. When evaluating potential partners, businesses should focus on these critical factors:
Industry expertise
Choose a CaaS partner with deep knowledge of the specific regulations that apply to your industry. Each sector, from healthcare to finance to utilities, has unique regulatory requirements that demand specialized attention. A partner familiar with your industry’s compliance standards will be better equipped to address challenges, navigate complex regulations, and help you avoid potential risks.
Technology and automation
Modern compliance management relies increasingly on advanced technologies like AI, machine learning, and automation. A strong CaaS partner leverages these tools to drive real-time monitoring, rapid adaptation to regulatory changes, and proactive risk detection. Streamlining compliance management through technology allows your business to stay ahead of evolving regulations while your SaaS partner helps you remain focused on key business objectives.
Customization and support
No two businesses have the exact same compliance needs, so find a CaaS partner that offers tailored solutions. Customization is key to long-term success in adapting to specific industry-specific standards as well as meeting the unique demands of your operations. Additionally, ongoing support ensures that, as regulations change or your customer base grows, your organization remains responsive and ready to adjust its services accordingly.
Embracing Compliance as a Service is a strategic imperative
In today’s ever-changing landscape, marked by a growing body of stringent regulatory demands, organizations cannot afford to downplay the importance of robust compliance management. CaaS is scalable and flexible, allowing businesses to grow or enter new markets while reducing the risk of heavy fines and legal issues by staying ahead of new regulations. It provides real-time monitoring by industry subject matter experts and centralized compliance capabilities while adapting to varying industry needs and providing a tailored compliance solution.
Compliance as a Service is becoming an essential business function in the globalized economy. For organizations looking to bolster their compliance practices, exploring CaaS offers a path to resilience in the face of evolving regulatory obligations.
About the Author
Jennifer DeVilling is a Senior Consultant in Logic20/20’s Strategy & Operations practice. Her broad experience encompasses delivering and supporting complex, large-scale business and information technology projects, analyzing and documenting data privacy processes and procedures, leading the lifecycle and achieving deliverables from analysis and design to testing and deployment. Jennifer is an IAPP Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM), a Certified Scrum Master (CSM), and an experienced project manager.
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