Compliance Monitoring Programs: What Separates “Great” From “Good Enough”?

In essence, what separates great from good enough is the spark of something extraordinary that elevates the ordinary. The value-adding element in a ‘great’ compliance monitoring program leaves a lasting impact and helps compliance professionals maintain compliance at every level. 

A good enough compliance monitoring program meets the minimum requirements established by regulatory authorities and industry standards. Such compliance frameworks usually entail basic monitoring operations, including tracking transactions, ensuring paperwork is in place, and conducting periodic assessments to spot any problems. 

However, a great compliance monitoring program goes beyond these essentials. Enhancing compliance processes incorporates effective compliance strategies, leveraging compliance technology, and setting rigorous performance metrics. 

Why are Penalties for Compliance-Related Violations Increasing?

1. Identifying risks and risk coverage may not be up to the mark, leaving potential gaps in compliance efforts.
2. The mitigation plan may lack a well-defined and holistic approach.
3. There may be a disconnect between the monitoring and mitigation plan activities.
4. Lack of resources limits the capacity to handle identified risks.

What Separates a Great Compliance Monitoring Program From a Good Enough One?

We’ll look at the key components that distinguish successful compliance monitoring strategies from their “good enough” alternatives. From proactive risk management to ethically engaging HCPs, let’s explore the foundation of achieving compliance excellence.

Proactive Approach

A great compliance monitoring program is proactive, not reactive. It predicts and detects potential risks before they lead to regulatory violations. This could include completing regular risk assessments, staying up to date on regulatory changes and industry trends, and actively seeking out potential areas of concern.

Stronger Collaboration

Instead of operating in silos, a great compliance monitoring program integrates with other compliance functions within the organization, such as training, auditing, and investigations. This ensures a comprehensive approach to compliance management and facilitates communication and collaboration across different departments.

Compliance Monitoring Solution Integration

qordata enables you to automate your monitoring process​, identify key risk areas, and track remedial actions to ensure an effective and efficient compliance program. Their global compliance monitoring solution provides live and virtual monitoring, automated scheduling, dynamic workflows, customizable checklists, data-driven insights, and executive dashboards. You can conduct a 100% audit of your commercial expense data to ensure your organization aligns with the predefined expense limits and policy changes.  

Data-driven

A great compliance monitoring program relies on data and analytics to drive decision-making. You must leverage advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to identify patterns, trends, and anomalies that may indicate potential compliance issues. This allows for more targeted monitoring efforts and enables the program to adapt and evolve based on real-time insights.

Continuous improvement

A great compliance monitoring program is not static but continuously evolving and improving. It regularly assesses its effectiveness, gathers stakeholder feedback, and implements changes to enhance its capabilities and address emerging risks. This culture of continuous improvement ensures that the program remains effective and relevant in an ever-changing regulatory landscape.

Culture of compliance

A great compliance monitoring program fosters a culture of compliance throughout the organization. It emphasizes the importance of ethical behavior and adherence to regulations and instills accountability at all levels of the organization. This culture of compliance is reinforced through regular training, communication, and recognition of compliance achievements.

Stakeholder engagement

A great compliance monitoring program actively engages with internal and external stakeholders, including employees, management, regulators, and industry associations. It seeks input and feedback from these stakeholders to inform its activities and ensure alignment with organizational goals and regulatory expectations.

 

Feature	Good Enough	Great
Focus	Regulatory compliance	Proactive risk management
Approach	Reactive, manual	Proactive, data-driven
Risk Identification	Limited, potential blind spots	Continuous, comprehensive
Data Utilization	Minimal, siloed	Extensive, integrated
Employee Engagement	Limited	Active participation
Continuous Improvement	Rare	Regular evaluation and adaptation

Conventional vs. Modern Compliance Monitoring

Conventional Compliance Monitoring

• With limited team members and budgets, compliance officers do what they can to carry out risk assessments and monitoring activities.
• Access to data is difficult and disparate systems result in not knowing where to find it, data isn’t easy to access OR too much data to analyze.
• At best, 30% of risks are effectively managed, which leads to increased board scrutiny and exposure to investigations and penalties.
• Gaining visibility to compliance concerns and risks is limited because connections between risk assessments, mitigation plans and monitoring are weak due to utilizing manual processes and vendors.

Modern Compliance Monitoring

• Using data-driven approach, combined with AI, compliance officers effectively implement risk assessments and monitoring activities with limited headcount.
• Leveraging analytics to gain insights on all the risks that may exist in the organization can also lead to the right partnerships across the organization to provide insights to other functions. This leads to zero resistance on provision of data.
• Automated audit of expenses can lead to 100% coverage of audit thus reducing workload and errors.
• Risk coverage can increase to more than 90%, mitigation plan created and connected with the identified risks that then connect with monitoring activities for accurate traceability.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the effectiveness of compliance monitoring programs hinges on several key factors that distinguish between greatness and mere adequacy. Organizations can elevate their compliance efforts by embracing a proactive approach, integrating compliance functions, leveraging data-driven strategies, prioritizing continuous improvement, fostering a culture of compliance, and actively engaging stakeholders. Organizations that prioritize and invest in building robust compliance monitoring programs will not only mitigate risks but also enhance their reputation and credibility in the marketplace.