The Importance of Processes for Risk and Compliance
Risk and compliance refers to the laws, regulations, and more that businesses need to account for at all times when they function.
These laws may differ, for example, in the food and beverage industry, this is typically related to ensuring everything is clean and taken care of. While in clinical trials, this is more related to data sets, control, and waiver forms.
However in both of these instances, processes are key for businesses to protect themselves and follow the guidelines required.
In this article, we’ll learn exactly how important processes are for risk and compliance.
What Is Risk and Compliance & How to Manage It
Risk and compliance management are critical aspects of any organisation, regardless of size or industry – but they are two slightly different things. Risk refers to the probability of a certain event occurring that could negatively impact an organisation’s objectives, while compliance refers to adhering to laws, regulations, guidelines, and standards related to the organisation’s operations.
Managing risk involves identifying potential risks and developing strategies to mitigate them. This can involve conducting risk assessments, implementing risk controls, and monitoring and reviewing risk regularly. Effective risk management can help organisations avoid financial losses, reputational damage, and legal issues.
Compliance management is equally important, as non-compliance can result in hefty fines, legal penalties, and reputational damage. Organisations must ensure that they meet their legal and regulatory obligations, as well as any relevant industry standards and codes of practice – the specific ones from the examples in the introduction come to mind. You’re focusing on identifying and assessing compliance risks, establishing compliance policies and procedures, and ensuring that employees are aware of and adhere to these policies.
Effective risk and compliance management requires a proactive approach that is integrated into an organisation’s overall business process. It involves ongoing monitoring and review, as well as continuous improvement to ensure that the organisation remains resilient and compliant in the face of changing risks and regulations – especially because they change often.
Historically, companies that are paying attention to and prioritising risk and compliance management are better positioned to protect their business, reputation, and stakeholders’ interests.
How Process Management Software Helps with Risk and Compliance
Process management software is a game-changer for organisations managing their risks and complying with regulatory requirements. This type of software is designed to streamline and automate processes, enabling businesses to effectively manage their operational workflows and reduce errors that can result in non-compliance.
One of the ways that process management software helps with risk management is by providing real-time visibility into workflows by access to dashboards and process data. With this type of software, teams can effectively monitor numerical metrics such as key performance indicators (KPIs) and track progress toward goals and objectives. By keeping track of this data, businesses can identify potential risks and take corrective actions to mitigate them, reducing the likelihood of non-compliance.
Moreover, process management software provides businesses with powerful tools to help them stay compliant with regulations. These tools include powerful audit trails that can be used to track changes to workflows and processes, ensuring that all modifications are authorised and properly documented. In Skore, you can use Custom Process Properties to help you with audits. When an Auditor comes, processes on Skore can demonstrate a higher level of clarity by capturing how these relationships work. Automated notifications and alerts will help team members stay on top of compliance requirements, ensuring that deadlines or check-ins are conducted in a timely manner.
Additionally, process management software can help businesses adhere to industry standards and best practices. By automating routine and repetitive tasks, teams can dedicate more resources to critical tasks requiring human attention. This helps to ensure that workflows are optimised, effective, and efficient, preventing unnecessary delays and errors that can result in non-compliance.
Skore is a great tool to work with your risk and compliance team when it comes to process reviews. It allows users to record risk issues or compliance against steps as you go during a workshop, featuring Compliance Points where you can upload additional documentation specifically for this purpose. This means it becomes much easier for the Compliance Team to manage as they can easily see how suggested changes for improvement impact risk and controls.
One of the many perks of software created specifically for process mapping and management!
Another perk when it comes to compliance and Skore?
They already inherently focus on the continuous improvement of the system. If Risks and Controls are linked to processes then Skore can clearly demonstrate where. The information is captured in the process map itself, connecting risk, compliance, role, and systems all together, ensuring a smoother, more streamlined approach. With tools such as Quantify and Process Review, Skore helps ensure that you are constantly making sure you follow the risk and compliance guidelines as needed and check in for updates or changes.
Risk and Compliance Use Case Example
Bovis Homes
Bovis Homes is a well-established construction company that has been building homes since 1885. A recent period of rapid expansion and growth for their business led to a realisation that their current processes and systems were not sufficient enough to handle the complexity and volume of their projects.
The existing documentation and processes were not standardised, many of them were even outdated. This made it difficult to determine if the company could deliver and the level of risk they were exposed to. The lack of clarity and transparency on how the company works also posed a challenge to stakeholder engagement and collaboration.
To address these issues, Bovis Homes turned to Skore.
With our tool, the company achieved visibility and structure in their processes. By engaging all of its regions in a collaborative approach, Bovis Homes was able to determine best practices that aligned with industry standards for quality, health, and safety.
Skore’s intuitive and user-friendly interface made it accessible to the widest possible audience, allowing stakeholders to easily understand and contribute to the process mapping and management. The tool’s ability to capture processes, related policies, and control points quickly and efficiently, made it easy to communicate and share standard processes and key control points across the company.
Through a series of workshops and discussions, Bovis Homes leveraged Skore’s functionalities to create a cohesive and standardised approach to their processes. By doing so, the company was able to mitigate risks and ensure that their building projects move forward with a higher level of certainty and quality:
“It has a really nice look and feel, it’s easy to use and really quick to capture processes along with related policies and control points. This makes it very accessible to the widest possible audience…Skore has the ability to take complexity away from the resulting diagram while retaining all the necessary detail. It makes it easy to communicate and share standard processes and key control points.” – Group Head of Internal Audit and Risk Chris Jones
Conclusion
At the end of the day, it is clear that it is crucial for organisations to have a clear and well-defined set of processes in place for effective risk and compliance management. Processes are the foundation of any successful business, as they ensure that various tasks are carried out in an organised and efficient manner. From operational processes to compliance-related requirements, each aspect of the organisation’s functions hinges on a structured system.
The lack of clearly defined processes can lead to chaos, inefficiencies, and risks that can have severe consequences, including compliance breaches, legal penalties, and damaged reputation. In contrast, well-designed processes can improve the overall performance of the organisation by streamlining workflows, enhancing communication, and increasing customer satisfaction.
Process management enables organisations to maintain compliance with regulatory requirements. Through process mapping, compliance-related tasks are identified, documented, and tracked to ensure they are carried out consistently and appropriately. This can prevent costly errors and streamline reporting requirements.
If you’d like to learn more about how Skore can help your business get on track with risk and compliance process management please feel free to reach out below