6 Essential Elements of a Compliance Program

Why do small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) need a compliance program?

✅ First, the trends are alarming. 42% of small businesses experienced a cyberattack in the last year. 75% was caused by giving too much privileged access to third parties.

✅ The free market is driving the demand to prove your business is secure, not regulations alone. You cannot buy cyber liability insurance without proof of your business security. You can’t receive an insurance claim payout without proof of your business security. Your supply chain and business associates demand it because 3rd parties caused over half of the breaches.

✅ There is a disturbing trend – potential fraud charges against individuals who attest to being compliant.

✅ Most companies who say they are secure, really aren’t. So, if you don’t ask, you don’t find out until you are breached.

Compliance is Achievable

A compliance program ensures that a business complies with laws or regulations relevant to it. However, most (SMBs) are not well prepared when it comes to compliance. Some of those businesses believe compliance is only for large organization. Some just don’t have the resources to understand the regulations, implement the necessary policies, procedures, and controls and gather the evidence to prove compliance.

The bottom line is your SMB needs a compliance program to minimize risk and decrease inefficiencies.

To help you effectively achieve compliance, we’ve developed a detailed checklist that lets you understand the Six Essential Elements of a Compliance Program:

1. Executive Sponsorship
2. Business Impact Analysis & Risk Assessment
3. Chief Compliance Officer (CCO)
4. Data Governance Strategy 
5. Monitoring, Testing and Updating
6. Routine Employee Training