One of the biggest challenges organizations face when comes toIT governance risk and compliance is the fact that it is difficult to understand the real and ongoing risks organizations faces. Keeping abreast of every change and nuance of each new or modified regulation can be exhausting, whether your organization is responsible to meet one or several compliance initiatives. This challenge is made even more complicated when IT processes are handled manually, which opens up a tremendous risk of human error.
IT automation helps to eliminate this risk and improve the chances of consistently passing regulatory compliance.
Today’s technology has made it increasingly important that businesses meet both external regulatory compliance requirements as well as the internal security mandates of their own organizations. This means protecting sensitive data and abiding by all of the complex and ever-changing requirements that are set forth by government and other regulatory agencies.
When an organization handles their IT functions manually, they inherently open themselves up to risk. That’s because human errors can result in things like sensitive data being exposed to internal or external threats and confidential material potentially being compromised. The resulting non-compliance can cost your organization more than just a hefty fine – it can cost you your profitability and future success.
By automating repetitive, manual tasks your organization is better able to maintain a continuous state of compliance.
What’s more, IT automation also helps to quickly identify any possible compliance breaches so that you can address and correct them in a timely manner, before they become a costly problem. Instead of backtracking to pinpoint a breach, regular assessments allow you to manage your compliance in real-time.
When an audit comes up, businesses often find themselves scrambling to correct existing problems and quickly generate enough proof of controls to satisfy auditors. The result is a significant waste of time, effort and resources, and it usually falls short of what the auditors are looking for anyway. So, not only is the business increasing costs and reducing productivity by trying to manage their compliance at the last minute, but they’re likely not going to succeed in doing so.
IT automation eliminates this last-minute scramble because instead of compliance being a separate task, it becomes a part of the day to day operations of your business. That means when an audit arises, you won’t have to worry – compliance is already incorporated in your IT operations. Audit-trails have already been created, making the process quick and efficient, and improving the possibility of passing all the requirements.
So, then the question becomes not whether you should automate your IT activities, both for reducing costs and improving productivity, but can you afford not to? Non-compliance is more than just a risk to your employees and clients – it’s a risk to your organization as a whole. IT process automation takes the guesswork out of this complex subject and helps keep your business in line so that when those auditors knock, you’ll be ready.
