What Does It Mean to Be Compliant?
As you might have learned already, finding valuable information on the internet regarding compliance isn’t as easy as it seems. We’ve assembled this article to help you find out what compliance is and why it’s a crucial concern for your organization.
Over recent years, businesses have been witnessing a disturbing pattern. The volume of federally-filed ADA website and application accessibility-related lawsuits has risen to one case each working hour! In case you’re wondering, that amounts to 8 per day, 40 per week, and more than 2000 lawsuits per year. What’s more, that is only one of the multiple compliance standards most organizations now need to follow!
Does this mean you should start panicking if you’re falling behind on compliance? Of course not! There are steps you can take to bring your business up to date with all the relevant guidelines. But you have to start right away.
For starters, here is a sneak peek into what it means to be compliant:
Are you ready to learn more? Let’s dive in!
What Is Compliance?
Compliance, in business tech speak, describes the act of sticking to the rules of a particular industry or government-mandated standard.
What Are the Most Common IT Compliance Standards? As time has gone by, the business world has become increasingly regulated. Currently, pretty much every industry has its own guidelines, and monitoring every one of them without a support team can be a daunting task. Here’s a rundown of the most widely recognized guidelines:
- HIPAA: The Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act requires medical service organizations to standardize electronic health records systems. It also includes a few security measures intended to protect private patient information and confidentiality.
- SOX: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act targets shielding shareholders and the overall population from fraudulent practices and bookkeeping errors in the enterprise. It defines several guidelines, among them rules for storing and holding digital business records.
- PCI DSS: The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard refers to a set of policies aimed at making sure debit, credit, and cash card transactions are secure. They were created by MasterCard, Visa, American Express, and Discover.
This rundown is by no means comprehensive. Based on your nation, state, or industry, your business may have to comply with entirely different standards. The question is: how do you become compliant with all the relevant standards?
How Do You Stay Compliant With All the Relevant Standards?
- Find Out Which Standards Apply to Your Organization: First, you need to research which standards you should be watching out for and learn everything you can about them. One powerful strategy involves looking into implementation specifications, where they are provided. Implementation specifications are detailed descriptions of the measures organizations need to take to meet all the requirements of a particular standard. This information is typically available on the standards governing website.
- Partner Up With a Reputable IT Services Provider: To be entirely sure nothing is left to chance, you have to leverage the expertise and experience of a reliable IT support company. For instance, a capable IT partner would help you recognize any gaps in controls that could bring about unsuccessful conclusions.
- Allocate a Team to Monitor Compliance: In case your business is still growing, recruiting an entire team of full-time employees devoted to compliance might be incredibly expensive. All things considered, we suggest designating a current staff member to oversee compliance over the audit period.
- Begin Preparing Early Enough: No one likes having to scramble at the last minute to ensure everything’s in order. Particularly when the stakes are this high. You have to begin compliance preparations as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary spending, mistakes, and the emotional strain that come with the last-minute rush.
Eager to Find Out Whether Your Business in Akron, Ohio, is Compliant?
Our accomplished IT experts at Rea & Associates is excited to help your business stay compliant with all the relevant standards.
Get in touch with us now to schedule your initial compliance consultation!
