Management systems are efficient at what they do, that is, doing the same thing the same way over and over again. What they tend not to be good at is change and improvement.
What compliance needs most of all is the ability to improve and mature capability over time to advance compliance outcomes. This means change and this is something that management software often does not support very well.
Many organizations chose software based only on improving efficiencies with respect to a fixed set of basic compliance requirements. These capabilities are often directed at the reactive side of compliance focused on reporting, audits and the collection of lagging indicators. Software applications and platforms in this space often do not support processes that allow you to be proactive as you improve towards higher standards, and better outcomes.
The majority of regulations and industry standards are now performance and risk-based that require companies advance their capability maturity over time. Compliance systems must move beyond just focusing on improving efficiencies and instead support the capabilities leadership needs to improve effectiveness. Compliance technology must now support proactive as well as reactive processes.
Modern compliance systems should include capabilities that support:
Managing all obligations (mandatory and voluntary)
Managing traceability of promises and commitments in support of accepted obligations
Managing the alignment of organizational values with operational objectives
Managing preventive and mitigatve measures to contend with uncertainty and risk
Real-time monitoring of compliance status and capacities
Discovery of insights to proactively stay in compliance and ahead of risk
Learning and skill development to advance capabilities that advance compliance outcomes (safety, security, sustainability, quality, regulatory, ethical, etc.)
Continuous improvement across measures of conformance, performance, effectiveness, and assurance.
Support for front-view planning, management preview, pre-incident investigations, program pre-mortems, evaluate/elevate cycles, prevention and improvement, benefit realization.
Organizations should not settle on software that only meets basic, reactive requirements. When it comes to meeting modern day obligations, there is more at stake than just saving money.