Change is a constant that companies and compliance professionals must continually endure. Corrective actions, process improvements, policy adjustments, and new products and services are just a few of the changes that impact businesses every day.
Think back to the last time you needed to implement crucial changes—quickly. What happened? Did you cringe at the thought of “pulling the trigger” because you knew there were regulations that might get in the way? How did you navigate regulatory compliance, while you implemented those vitally needed changes at your company?
In today’s complex business environment, regulatory agencies insist that change management be a key element of your company’s compliance management system. Change management tools automate the process of managing change. A robust change management system allows you to stay compliant, while helping your company excel in its industry. Your company can leverage the power of a change management system to adequately prepare for shifts that impact your business, strengthen its agility, and improving its processes to capitalize on these changes.
What does your current change management process look like? Is it smooth and seamless? Or is it based on manual, inefficient processes that create data silos and ultimately cause confusion? Have you taken the initiative to evaluate and implement IT change management best practices?
In many organizations, change management processes are highly manual. People still use email and spreadsheets that don’t facilitate collaboration. Employees get swamped reading and writing messages, while business critical information stored in spreadsheets is riddled with errors, lacks documentation, and is difficult to maintain. Moreover, there’s no way to effectively and efficiently check if you’re violating any regulations.
“You don’t have to maintain the status quo anymore. There is a better way to balance change management along with risk and regulatory compliance.”
As a result, confusion reigns and you run the risk of violating the law (not to mention the penalties you’ll face). Fortunately, you don’t have to maintain the status quo anymore. There is a better way to balance change management with risk and regulatory compliance.
The secret to effectively managing change AND complying with regulations is to reduce (or eliminate) manual processes. Change management software allows you to automate entire workflows, making them more efficient and less complex. How? By creating a centralized change repository that tracks changes across your entire organization. This software also automates the process of collecting critical risk documentation and change record history, which means you won’t waste precious time and effort hunting for change records or risk documents anymore.
“You won’t have to waste precious time and effort hunting for change records or risk documentation anymore.”
Change management software also dramatically shortens the audit process. Auditors have all the information they need in one place, making it clear what changes have been made and whether they violate any regulations.
“Change management software dramatically shortens the audit process.” Change management and risk compliance aren’t mutually exclusive—they’re a balancing act. Change management software allows you to give equal consideration to both without causing conflicts. To learn more about change management tools, download our Guide to 25 Key Requirements for Change Management.
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