It may have been viewed as a luxury mere months ago, but the reality of compliance management and technology is now commonplace within the global financial sector. This is largely due to the need for greater data security, management, and communication and has, as a result, triggered the introduction of financial services firms, or FSFs, that capitalise on technology in an attempt to operate and manage their compliance program. If you are wondering whether or not you can use technology to boost internal compliance as a financial firm, continue reading.
A nod to the digital era
In the past decade, a growing number of businesses from a wide range of industries and sectors have waved goodbye to manual processes and welcomed a new age of technology in the digital era. In the financial sector, in particular, there is a growing need for FSFs to streamline the process of sourcing, managing, and retaining important, confidential, and large documents in minimal time. It comes as a number of manual controls continue to pose significant risk to employees and clients alike with human error an enduring problem that is difficult to avoid without the partial or complete introduction of technology. In response to this ongoing issue, a variety of compliance solution tools have emerged that allow FSFs to address any outstanding problems and improve their approach to internal compliance on a long-term basis.
Communication is key
In addition to eliminating human error, technology can also boost internal and external communication when it comes to internal compliance with regular updates, procedures, and strategies able to be communicated between users in less time than ever before. The introduction of technology can also lead to the delivery of first-class compliance training on a regular basis to ensure all employees are equipped with the relevant knowledge and experience to contend with a wide range of highs and lows that may arise. It can also welcome a number of software systems to streamline daily operations on a company-wide scale such as online calendars to schedule compliance-related events and monitoring and testing platforms to ensure compliance is adhered to.
An additional layer of safety and security
In using technology to boost internal compliance, you can also benefit from an additional layer of safety and security. This is especially important considering that paper-based communication is extremely prone to human error and, perhaps most commonly in the financial sector, physical loss or damage. If a specific document requires any changes to be made at a later date, the vast majority of software systems are equipped with the capacity to provide readily accessible information on its entire edit history for all permitted users to see. In addition, it is also usually possible to add an extra layer of safety and security by introducing multi-factor authentication, a series of shut-down procedures, or disaster recovery processes to ensure documents are protected from a number of common threats and successfully retrieved if and when necessary.
In the past decade, a growing number of organisations from a wide range of industries and sectors have introduced technology in an attempt to streamline daily operations and simplify time-consuming tasks. In the financial sector, in particular, several companies have introduced technology to boost internal compliance by eliminating manual procedures. It has also led to greater internal and external communication and the provision of first-class employee training to ensure compliance is adhered to on an ongoing basis and injected an extra layer of safety and security to prevent a number of common paper-based problems from arising such as human error, loss, and damage.
