Embed compliance to help your business ride out the storm

[Neal_Murphy]

Australia’s financial services industry resembles a cruise ship caught in hurricane-force winds. Nearly every day revelations from the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry are impacting financial services businesses like waves over a ship’s bow. Yet sometimes such events – similar to ‘burning platform’ situations – can act as catalysts for changes needed to reach calmer waters.

A recent industry roundtable showcased the fact many members of the financial services community see the Royal Commission as a catalyst to transform inefficient processes and build policy and compliance management. Compliance officers – seen as the ‘traffic wardens’ and naysayers – now have the chance to shine and be appreciated. The key is to make compliance deliver value rather than be seen as blocking achievement.

Most businesses during and post-Royal Commission are likely to reallocate budget to compliance. This poses the question: ‘Are you going to undertake compliance activities in the future the same way you do today?’ The answer should be ‘no’.

Businesses in this industry need to embed compliance throughout their operations rather than make it an add-on or a milestone. Project managers and business leaders need to work closely with compliance teams to ensure compliance is considered, designed for, built into and maintained with every initiative. For customers, compliance activities – such as supplying the identification needed to open bank accounts – should be clear and accessible. To make this change, financial services organisations need to move teams’ perception of compliance from a tedious ‘must do’ to a vibrant, dynamic enabler of success.

When undertaken properly, compliance can support rapid delivery while minimising risk. While financial services businesses want to beat competitors to market with a new solution, they are understandably averse to being in the news for the solution being hacked and customer data stolen.

At ServiceNow, we believe the financial services industry should design once, be compliant once and deliver once. Too many businesses are taking the risky approach of sending solutions out to market without properly working through each step.  

This approach can become even more risky if compliance operates in a separate system and is disconnected from other activities. Financial services businesses also face the laborious task of updating systems to meet new compliance requirements in their heavily regulated industry.

So how can the financial services industry fully embed compliance into its activities? The answer is to deploy a single platform that automates work and orchestrates processes to enable businesses to move faster. The ServiceNow platform operates in a range of dimensions to support projects and business as usual activities. For example, a financial services business can view and adjust information and activities to meet time to market and compliance requirements. That business has all the information immediately accessible to enable informed decisions. A business need only make minor process adjustments – and automate them – to ensure it remains compliant with new laws and regulations.

Creating a compliance culture and practices is critical for financial services businesses aiming to reach calmer waters. If you would like to learn more, please contact me at neal.murphy@servicenow.com