Exploring The Benefits Of Continuous Compliance

Uploaded on 2023-06-12 in FREE TO VIEW

Traditional compliance is usually manual, reactive, and point-in-time, thus leaving organisations at risk. Continuous compliance, on the other hand, is highly automated and proactive. Achieving continuous compliance improves security and builds trust.

Our recent survey of 300 IT, security, and GRC professionals from established organisations shows that compliance remains a business challenge for many organisations, with IT and security professionals spending an average of 4,300 hours annually achieving or maintaining their compliance programs.

Manual Compliance Is A Blocker

Traditional compliance processes and workflows are notorious for copious paperwork, time-consuming manual oversight, and inability to scale to accommodate business growth or meet new regulations. It’s no surprise then that manual compliance is seen as an obstacle, while companies that implemented some level of continuous, automated compliance see compliance as a business driver.

The figures bear this out: 87% of organisations indicated negative outcomes as a result of low compliance maturity, and 76% of companies who follow a point-in-time compliance approach feel the related effort is a burden. The valuable time - over 4,000 hours per week - that teams typically spend maintaining compliance could be allocated elsewhere by streamlining the compliance journey.

Continuous compliance offers a streamlined, proactive approach that reduces the manual burden and flexes to meet new legislation with minimal fuss. It can help you avoid legal penalties, improve operational efficiency, build your reputation, and increase trust with customers, vendors, and partners.

Turning Trust Into A Competitive Advantage

Because manual compliance is often reactive, and only offers a snapshot in time, it lacks scalability and the ability to maintain trust with customers and prospects. On the other hand, according to the respondents, the leading outcome of continuous compliance is it helps to build and establish trust: 67% of organisations feel the model enables them to attract new customers more easily. As many companies are still implementing the approach, we expect to see across the board this increase to nearly 100% in the next five years.

Enabling A Cybersecurity-First Culture

Proactive compliance provides a bridge pathway to enhanced cybersecurity. Using automation, companies are eliminating blind spots through continuous control monitoring, which also builds trust and reduces the time it takes to close gaps and respond to issues, vulnerabilities, and policy breaches.

Continuous compliance should not be seen as a replacement for a cybersecurity strategy, but as a complementary strategy that facilitates a culture of security, especially for newer organisations. 41% of respondents claimed that continuous compliance improved cybersecurity capabilities; 38% said it increased efficiency in security reviews; and 37% said it improved the ability to identify and manage risks.

Reaching Continuous Risk & Compliance

60% of surveyed companies have yet to achieve some stage of continuous compliance; however, 91% have a degree of confidence that they will reach continuous compliance in the next five years. Drilling down deeper, 71% are completely or very confident, and an additional 26% are somewhat or a little confident they will achieve continuous compliance in the next five years.

However, obstacles remain: according to respondents, 65% of efforts to adopt continuous compliance are always or often deprioritised, and another 35% feel it is sometimes deprioritised due to other business goals or initiatives.

Among companies who have reached some level of continuous compliance, there are several common factors: 67% have larger teams and they spend more time on compliance.

Our survey reveals that how compliance is perceived directly relates to the current state of compliance maturity an organisation has reached. 75% who have achieved continuous compliance feel their program is a business accelerator, establishes trust, and bridges gaps in cybersecurity capabilities.

The consequences of not having continuous compliance are stark. When it comes to finances, legal implications, reputational trust and in-work safety, compliance plays a key role. As we have seen, a continuous approach to the subject yields the most benefits with fewer negative outcomes.

What is clear is that continuous compliance has the ability to boost trust, drive business, and enhance security. Now is the time to remove the blockers from your business and establish a continuous compliance policy.

Adam Markowitz is CEO and Co-Founder at Drata

Image: iStock

To find out more from the 2023 Compliance Trends Report, click HERE to download.

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