When you get involved in business transactions, your company and its employees must follow forms of compliance management to ensure that all rules and legal regulations are being met. First off, let’s get a basic understanding of what compliance management is. The word “compliance” involves the act of following all of the rules and standards of an organization. Non-compliance can put a company and all of its clients’ data at great risk. Compliance management is ensuring that business owners effectively act and adhere to compliance laws and legal regulations. Some of these activities can consist of:

• Internal audits
• Third-party audits
• Preparing reports
• Security procedures

Why is Compliance Important?

Business owners already have a lot on their plate, so the idea of additional fines does not sound pleasing. IBM, for example, stated that the average cost of a data breach is $3.62 million. As the government becomes more strict on business laws, legal compliance is crucial to keeping a business safe and secure. Ensuring your business is compliant will build trust with your customers and employees. By being able to provide defensible policies and procedures, your business will be better able to avoid the following problems:

• Damage to corporate image, standing, or customer trust
• Lost revenue, market opportunity, or stock value
• Remediation expenditures (legal costs, fines, and lost productivity)

Benefits of IT Compliance for Business

IT Compliance involves taking the right steps to protect your company’s information. This includes how data is stored, secured, and protected. Setting up a reliable security compliance as-a-service (CaaS) solution is crucial to your business and its future success. A strong IT compliance solution will allow you to:

• Maintain accurate records for audits
• Improve effectiveness with automated processes
• Stay up to date on current compliance requirements
• Manage IT resources and ensure accountability

Becoming NIST Compliant

The National Institute of Standards and Technology develops standards and guidelines to manage cost-effective programs that can protect your company’s information. Compliance with NIST has become a top priority in many businesses today. They have outlined some advantages towards their compliance, touching on aspects like the categorizing of data and information you need to protect, and the monitoring of your security controls. In most cases, following NIST guidelines and recommendations will help federal agencies ensure compliance with other regulations, such as HIPAA, FISMA, or SOX. While NIST is great guidance for businesses of all sizes to use for improved cybersecurity management and reduced cybersecurity risk, we believe a company’s compliance earns them trust in their industry. Whether it’s leveraging HIPAA compliance solutions in the health care industry or maintaining FFIEC cybersecurity compliance in the financial industry, CorCystems Managed IT Services can provide you the services you need to keep your customers and their data safe.

Interested In NIST Compliance?

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about compliance management, our team at CorCystems Managed IT Services has more information to share with you. Feel free to give us a call at (203) 431-1341.