Ensure business process compliance with process automation

Understanding business process compliance   

Business process compliance is the practice of ensuring that an organization’s operations comply with its policies, industry standards, and the law. Due to current trends in data protection, labor relations, and corporate governance regulation, compliance is becoming increasingly important to avoid penalties, damage to the company’s reputation, and legal risks.

However, managing compliance manually is labor-intensive and error-prone. To this day, organizations have begun to shift to automation to simplify and accelerate compliance processes, minimize risks, and ensure efficiency.

Why compliance matters   

Compliance is critical for organizations across industries. Adhering to legal and regulatory standards ensures smooth operations, enhances brand trust, and mitigates risks associated with non-compliance. Examples of key regulatory frameworks include:

• Industry standards: ANSI (American National Standards Institute), ISO (International Standards Organization)

• Sector-specific regulations: HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) for healthcare, SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act) for finance

• Data privacy laws: GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in Europe, COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) in the U.S.

• Workforce regulations: FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) in the U.S.

For global enterprises, compliance becomes even more complex. For instance, a financial institution operating in both the U.S. and Germany must align with SOX regulations in the U.S. while adhering to the Deutscher Corporate Governance Kodex in Germany, despite their differing guidelines. The need for centralized compliance management becomes evident in such cases.

Process compliance vs. Process adherence   

Although often used interchangeably, process compliance and process adherence differ:

• Process compliance (external compliance): Mandated by external regulatory bodies, such as government laws and industry standards, with legal consequences for violations.

• Process adherence (Internal compliance): Enforced by the organization itself, often reflecting best practices, ethical standards, and operational guidelines.

Challenges of maintaining compliance   

Organizations face several challenges in maintaining business process compliance:

• Regulatory complexity: Frequent changes in laws require businesses to update their processes constantly.

• Inaccurate data: Poor data quality can lead to non-compliance and flawed decision-making.

• Lack of awareness: Employees may not fully understand compliance requirements, leading to unintentional violations.

• Inefficient processes: Redundant or manual processes make compliance management slow and prone to errors.

How process compliance management works   

Process compliance management is a subset of risk management that integrates compliance controls into daily operations. It involves:

1. Monitoring regulatory changes: Staying updated on evolving compliance requirements.

2. Standardizing processes: Establishing workflows that align with compliance guidelines.

3. Auditing and reporting: Conducting regular audits and maintaining logs for accountability.

4. Employee training: Ensuring staff understands and follows compliance protocols.

5. Automating compliance: Leveraging technology to reduce human errors and increase efficiency.

Benefits of process compliance   

Organizations that prioritize process compliance experience several advantages:

• Enhanced trust and reliability: Builds credibility with clients, partners, and stakeholders.

• Improved risk management: Reduces reputational and operational risks.

• Minimized errors: Standardized processes lead to greater consistency and fewer mistakes.

• Higher quality standards: Ensures processes align with brand values and regulatory requirements.

Key metrics to track process compliance   

Organizations use key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure compliance effectiveness. Some essential KPIs include:

• Mean time between failures (MTBF): Measures system reliability by tracking the average time between failures.
• Mean time to repair (MTTR): Assesses how quickly issues are resolved to restore operations.
• System availability: Tracks uptime and downtime to ensure continuous operations.
• Percentage of critical systems without up-to-date patches: Identifies vulnerabilities that could lead to compliance breaches.
• Percentage of scheduled maintenance activities missed: Highlights gaps in compliance adherence due to resource shortages or mismanagement.

How to ensure process compliance   

Developing and implementing a structured compliance framework starts with workflow optimization and automation integration. A compliance-focused workflow should:

1. Guarantee transparency and accountability  

Automated dashboards provide real-time visibility into compliance status. These dashboards allow businesses to track KPIs, generate compliance reports, and assign tasks to key personnel, ensuring accountability.

2. Ensure adherence to regulatory standards  

Automation software logs every compliance-related activity, including task completion times, responsible employees, and audit trails. This documentation is crucial for demonstrating compliance during audits.

3. Improve data accuracy and quality  

Manual data entry is prone to errors, leading to compliance risks. Automated solutions reduce errors by validating data, ensuring consistency, and eliminating redundant manual input.

4. Optimize process efficiency  

Businesses can ensure secure, role-based access to compliance-related documents by automating data storage and retrieval. This improves workflow efficiency and minimizes process bottlenecks.

5. Proactively identify and resolve bottlenecks  

Automation solutions help detect workflow inefficiencies and potential compliance risks before they escalate, ensuring seamless operations.

Magic of Qntrl in compliance management   

Enterprises can enhance their compliance strategy with Qntrl, a low-code process automation platform designed to help businesses streamline compliance workflows. Qntrl allows teams to visualize, standardize, and automate compliance-related processes without relying heavily on IT teams to do the heavy-lifting.

With Qntrl, organizations can:

• Ensure adherence to industry regulations.

• Maintain accurate, real-time compliance tracking

• Reduce manual compliance errors through automation.

• Improve transparency and accountability across workflows.

By leveraging Qntrl, businesses can transform compliance management from a reactive process into a proactive and strategic advantage.