Is Compliance a Problem? Go Mobile!

Richard Wilson June 10, 2019

Effective compliance controls are essential for all organizations, particularly those in highly regulated industries. In the past, organizations hoping to keep track of employees and internal processes had no other choice but to rely on paper, Word Docs and Excel Spreadsheets.
These solutions entail transcribing data from paper to computer along with numerous emails being sent, not just inefficient but risky in terms of communications being poor and data getting lost plus no real-time visibility. Because of the growing complexities of regulations and requirements, your organization will struggle to maintain compliance if you are still using paper-based systems.

The costs of non-compliance can be extremely damaging with significant fines, business disruption, damage to brand and loss of productivity & revenue. The annual cost of non-compliance to organizations run an average of $14.8 million. The range can be anywhere from $2.2 million (USD) to $39.2 million (USD). The cost of compliance, on the other hand, was found to average $5.5 million (USD) –  it pays to be compliant!

This has prompted many organizations to prioritize their investment around the use of technology to increase operational efficiencies and ensure compliance with the growing number of government/industry regulations that exist.

Mobile workflows are seen as being one of the best technologies to help improve how organizations connect with data. It creates an optimized link between the organization and its operations helping them to spot compliance issues earlier. It allows them to implement seamless, intelligent connectivity with minimal effort from employees.

The Aberdeen Report “Put Operational Excellence in the Palms of your Hands with Mobile Workflows” states that 45% of best-in-class organizations have completely revolutionized their businesses by introducing mobile workflows.

In order for an organization to remain competitive and grow, it must optimize its processes to reduce inefficiencies, the risk of non-compliance and ultimately increase revenue. As we transition into Industry 4.0, organizations who have not yet fully embraced ‘going digital’ are operating at a great disadvantage. In the Field Service USA 2019 Report, nearly all companies within it (93%) have already incorporated IoT and data analysis capabilities as a fundamental part of their business.

Paper-based solutions and Excel spreadsheets are tedious, cumbersome, time-consuming and subject to errors. By relying on them, organizations are sacrificing both profitability, efficiency and more likely to make bad decisions due to having inaccurate data.

Not only that, they miss out on the numerous ways that using mobile technology can help promote complete compliance. Here are five compelling reasons why you should enable mobile workflows in your organization.

Mobility Enables Organizations to Streamline Daily Operations

Using mobile technology gives you real-time visibility into the status of processes. Supervisors in charge of multiple locations are able to locate and track employees’ progress at a click!  52% of organizations with mobile workflows have real-time visibility of the status of all processes as opposed to 19% of organizations who are still using manual processes.

Mobile apps also offer report functions and data collection, giving organizations assurance that regulatory requirements are being met and the ability to identify opportunities to improve standard operating procedures.

Traditional review processes are susceptible to compliance errors. Technology empowers organizations to respond immediately to any non-conformances. Management is able to assign non-conformances to employees and monitor their status in real-time. The amount of time spent tracking and closing corrective actions is significantly decreased, reducing costs and delivering a significant return on investment.

Improves Employee Efficiency and Accountability

76% of organizations with mobile workflows have the ability to schedule notifications to alert employees when processes are assigned/due/overdue, compared to 44% of organizations without mobile apps.

Through using mobile devices employees are efficient and accountable for any tasks/ non-conformances that they are assigned. The employee approval hierarchy and accountability can now be clearly stated for all to see. This establishes more control, eliminates finger-pointing and promotes complete transparency within an organization.

Mobile app notifications play an important role in keeping all tasks organized and in view ensuring that no issues fall through the cracks. These notifications can be sent through email, text message and platform pop-ups and can replace tedious, unorganized manual systems like whiteboard jotting and general word of mouth.

Improved Communication

With digital workflows employees no longer need to manually notify each other when processes/tasks are completed. Features such as notifications and status updates keep everyone informed.

Reduced Costs

Non-compliance costs include fine settlements, productivity loss and business disruption probably being the biggest.  When found to be non-compliant, businesses can be forced to implement expensive, time-consuming compliance changes before being able to go back to normal. Through using mobile and technology devices, organizations are able to be much more compliant to government and industry standards than ever before.  Proper compliance management is a key part of risk management.

Better Data Capture, Accuracy and Reliability

Data entry is a critical day-to-day operation for companies across all industries. Everything from customer sales to process management heavily relies on data entries. With mobile technology, all data is captured in real-time and stored on one system. This provides configurable assessment dashboards, data-intensive charts and graphs to identify trends throughout the organization in real time.

As a result, there is a significant reduction in errors due to trending analytics and business intelligence. Employees can spot recurring issues instantly and follow up on issues more effectively.

Organizations with mobile workflows are able to capture data that they previously wouldn’t have been able to with traditional paper-based workflows.compared to 49% of organizations without mobile workflows. 67% of organizations with mobile workflows have the ability to record signatures electronically, compared to 34% of organizations who don’t have mobile workflows.
 

Why choose AuditComply?

AuditComply is a Risk & Performance Management (RPM) platform operates within highly regulated industries such as Automotive, Food & Beverage, Healthcare and Manufacturing, with clients throughout the UK, US, EU, Middle East and Asia Pacific regions.

The RPM platform has combined the comprehensive enterprise workflow with the speed and ability to deploy a mobile-first app. Enterprise customers select us because we deliver value on day one and we embrace change seamlessly to meet their daily needs, provide visibility, reduce costs and drive operational efficiencies whilst anticipating and managing enterprise risk.

AuditComply’s mobile app is unrivaled for conducting fast, detailed audits to maximize efficiency. The mobile app allows users to upload images directly to observations and reports, raise corrective actions and email them to the appropriate person. An innovative platform and mobile app like AuditComply marks the end to duplicate reporting and copying data repeatedly.

Online/Offline Mobile Capability – Offline capabilities allow remote or unconnected users to capture data and sync when they regain connectivity. Every input is date, time & location stamped.

Kick of ad hoc assessments using AuditComply’s offline template library- ideal for unscheduled checks and accident reporting.

Syncing Across Devices- Audits or assessments, conducted on the AuditComply platform periodically save to the server. This means that users can work effortlessly between their mobile, iPad and desktop.

Real-Time Visibility & Flexibility- Built into your business processes instantly without any re-coding required, providing instant reporting and real-time insights.

Powerful Analytics Engine- Real-time data-intensive analytics allows you to quickly spot trends and locate issues immediately. Full multi-site, 360-degree visibility prevents issues from recurring and slowing – impacting performance.

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