Introduction

The cybersecurity industry, with the support of our ever-evolving digital age, has begun to introduce AI security solutions, including a myriad of different compliance automation tools. Compliance automation is a way for companies to reduce the amount of time and money necessary to maintain compliance with various industry compliance standards. However, the process of implementing an effective compliance strategy, that is tailored to your business’s particular needs and allows you to stay ahead of the game, can be a complicated endeavor.  In this article, we’ll cover the pros and cons of this new tool and provide insight into whether it makes sense for businesses to utilize it in their compliance efforts.

Pros  

Compliance automation can help companies achieve compliance in a timely manner. This is important because it’s challenging to manage all the different regulations that companies must adhere to today and meet the deadlines that come with them. It’s expensive and time-consuming for businesses to comply with regulations internally, especially when they have limited resources and employees. 

Automation helps these companies save money by reducing the number of people who need to be involved in compliance activities, which means fewer costs associated with hiring additional personnel. 

Quick 

Compliance automation tools can be implemented quickly. They are typically implemented by an IT team or a managed security services provider (MSSP), that provides a team of experienced professionals with extensive knowledge of security, privacy and compliance frameworks. An MSSP can help companies quickly implement these complex tools and continuously monitor their results. With continuous monitoring, an MSSP’s team can identify any technical malfunctions and analyze any exclusions. This added effort dramatically reduces the risk of having non-conformities which could lead to an organization not achieving its compliance objectives and/or certification.   

Low Cost 

Compliance automation tools do offer a inexpensive alternative to larger companies. Some platforms even have bulk discounts available for enterprises with many endpoints and complex networks that need to meet certain compliance requirements. These companies use automation tools to comply with regulations such as SOC, HIPAA, or PCI DSS. These tools, when used properly, can cost-effectively automate processes for organizations running large operations, such as law practices, financial service firms, private equity groups, hospitals/healthcare providers etc. These businesses often transmit, process and store sensitive information from their employees, clients, and patients that include their private data. Most enterprise companies already have the budget to have a security team that can implement this service for them, but most small and midsize businesses don’t have the budget or personnel with the necessary skills and expertise to effectively implement compliance automation into the IT infrastructure of their organization. 

For example, a mid-size business needs to become SOC 2 compliant by a set deadline, so they choose to use a compliance automation platform. The company has about 100 employees but has no one in its IT department with experience monitoring security/privacy compliance policies. Additionally, this company has a limited budget to hire more personnel, but still needs the expertise and added effort of a larger team to implement the compliance automation platform. The most cost-effective and time-sensitive option for this business is to partner with an MSSP that will bring the necessary expertise to help implement and monitor the compliance automation tool and avoid any possible unnecessary mistakes.  

Cons  

Compliance automation can be a powerful tool for organizations looking to improve their compliance program, but it has its limitations. As a tool that automates certain aspects of an organization’s process, compliance automation may not be able to address your business’ individualistic complex cybersecurity and privacy needs. 

Compliance automation may have limitations when it comes to addressing complex cybersecurity and privacy needs. 

Simply put, compliance automation platforms don’t have the diversity of expertise, human adaptability, or the ability to alter initiatives based on the specific day-to-day, internal and external changes that undoubtedly will occur within your organization and/or industry. This means that if you want your company’s processes to change when there’s a new regulation or policy coming out—or if you want them changed because they’re no longer effective—your current solution won’t necessarily accommodate this need unless another one is implemented by IT staff members who understand how these programs work. 

These tools cannot be used to achieve HITRUST Certification 

Compliance automation is a powerful tool for healthcare or insurance organizations seeking to improve the privacy and security of their data. However, it can’t be used to achieve HITRUST certification. 

HITRUST is an industry-recognized seal of approval that demonstrates your commitment to data security and compliance with industry standards. HITRUST requires a formal process that’s not automated—and even then, only certain types of organizations may qualify for it. If you need to become HITRUST Certified, an MSSP can identify if your business would be eligible and connect you with a Certified CSF Practitioner to work with your organization to achieve certification. 

Many compliance automation tools lack dynamic adaptability and do not have the ability to alter initiatives based on all internal and external changes. 

Compliance automation tools are not dynamic. They do not have the ability to alter initiatives based on internal and external changes. Compliance automation tools are not a replacement for a skilled cybersecurity team and should never be used in place of an experienced internal team or partnering with an MSSP. 

Many compliance management solutions allow you to easily set up automated processes, but these systems do not allow for any customization or alterations based on your organization’s changing needs or regulatory requirements. If you need more resources assigned to an initiative, but don’t have enough people on staff right now, then it may be difficult for these solutions to accommodate this change dynamically (i.e., without having to spend time manually adjusting each individual item). 

The human element is critical in ensuring that a company remains compliant, even after an audit. 

A managed security services provider (MSSP) can do the heavy lifting for your organization’s compliance efforts throughout an audit so that you can remain focused on helping your clients, managing your team, and optimizing other business processes. 

The benefits of working with an MSSP include the following: 

• A partner who will work with you during any stage of the audit process (pre-audit planning, post-audit review reporting, etc.). and assist in addressing any issues before moving forward with additional steps, such as remediation plans or penalties assessed by regulators. 
• Guidance from security and privacy regulation experts that know how to help you identify and implement security controls that protect against known vulnerabilities. 
• You get access to an entire team of professionals with years of experience and a deep innate understanding of the ever-evolving threat landscape. 

• They will help you seamlessly achieve compliance with industry regulations. This includes setting up workflow automation and creating personalized policies and procedures. 

• They offer solutions to ensure that everyone on your staff has received security awareness training, so they know what processes to follow in the case of an emergency. 

However, if you’re going to rely on compliance automation alone—and we hope you won’t! It’s important that companies have an active approach toward security rather than simply relying on automated tools alone (though they can certainly be useful). The reason why is simple. Compliance automation doesn’t solve all our problems; it just makes them easier by freeing us up from having to worry about issues like monitoring software updates or ensuring employees understand their roles in maintaining security policies within their departments. 

Conclusion 

Compliance automation could be a valuable tool for your business, but by itself, this tool is not always the best solution for companies with limited budgets and expertise. The best way to ensure that you achieve compliance and protect your organization is by working with an MSSP like GoldSky. GoldSky’s team of security professionals and privacy experts will hold your hand and help lead your team through the compliance process every step of the way, respond instantly to any data emergencies, and answer any questions you may have.  If you have any further questions about compliance or securing your business, feel free to contact our team today!