CCOs must evolve to shape business future

Investment in compliance technology is needed if Chief Compliance Officers hope to move past a fire-fighting mentality and onto future-proofing their businesses

Chief Compliance Officers have a tough job. As modern business evolves, the ways in which companies must manage risk have multiplied exponentially. Whether it’s the reputational fallout of a cyber breach or the introduction of ground-breaking regulatory changes like MiFID II and GDPR, the scale and scope of what plays on the CCO’s mind on a day-to-day basis is truly mind-boggling.

And this is precisely why the CCO is such an integral part of the C-Suite – now more than ever. No forward-looking business strategy can hold its own without serious consideration of the next wave of regulatory changes or even the growth of demand for ethical business practices that match the expectations of modern consumers.

Moreover, as the adoption of advanced workplace technology is increasingly becoming both a competitive advantage and a compliance minefield, CCOs have to take an active role in ensuring their employees have access to the best productivity-enabling tools while managing the regulatory risks involved.

Many of these issues explain why this year’s PwC Annual Global CEO Survey found that regulation was far and away the greatest concern among business leaders. Evidently, business leaders are less worried about existential threats and more concerned about the cost of doing business. As this problem continues to weigh heavy on the minds of CEOs, they will continue to turn more to their CCOs to ensure they are doing everything they can to future-proof their businesses.

However, if CCOs want to truly step into such a crucial role, investment is needed to take compliance departments out of the fire-fighting mindset that still presides today. Currently, day-to-day compliance activities are taken up by managing reactive issues. Even a year after they came into force, compliance teams are still struggling to meet the demands of MiFID II and GDPR. How many are thinking about MiFID III or the introduction of greater information rights for their US customers, and eventually global customers?

A recent report by Deloitte ranks investment in compliance technology as the most important priority for CCOs. By automating the day-to-day activities that consume so much effort and using predictive analytics to see where the next fire might pop up, companies will be turning their compliance program into a value creator.

If firms hope to succeed in the future economy, they will need to have compliance at the forefront of their mind. Currently, compliance costs. But investing so that these processes are driven by advanced technology will give businesses a competitive advantage. Above all, this is because compliance teams and CCOs will now have the time to start thinking about the challenges ahead and how business strategy must adjust to meet them.

The Smarsh Connected Suite allows compliance teams to meet the challenges posed by the constantly shifting electronic communications landscape. By automating the capturing, monitoring and storing of relevant data in an easily manageable and immutable format, the Smarsh Connected Suite enables firms to manage communications compliance processes seamlessly.

From capturing data from more than 80 communications channels to extracting relevant content for production for regulators, or legal teams, in the format they require. Additionally, Smarsh offers the Supervision App for compliance teams, which delivers industry-leading supervision capabilities and efficient, team-based review workflows.

For more information on why compliance technology is essential for your business’s future growth, visit our website: www.smarsh.com.

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Shaun Hurst

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