Introduction

Agile means responsive, fast and efficient. With all the technological innovations happening at a rapid pace and disrupting various industries, it becomes inevitable for the organizations to adapt to such changes and operating methodologies. Organizations are now using Agile methodology instead of the traditional waterfall method.

Organizations are building quality systems that meet any industry & regulatory standards across sectors. They want quick results, continuous development, and ruthless prioritization. This becomes possible only with Agile methodology.

Compliance Monitoring

With new technology, there are newer threats that organizations dealing with every day. While focusing on lean development, it is also important for organizations to have robust anti-virus, anti-malware, and highly protected systems in place to operate rapidly & securely. Especially for the services sectors viz. Finance, banking, KPO’s, BPO’s, etc. These sectors own a huge amount of confidential customer data. And a minor data breach can cost them their reputation and millions of dollars and a loss of future business.

This is where Agile compliance plays a vital role. It focuses on Agile development principles but for risk mitigation and not for product development. Agile compliance primarily focuses on security-first strategy to ensure a data-secure environment even when the industry standards are not up to mark with threat vectors.

Agile process emphasizes on adaptive planning, continuing improvement & flexible responses to constantly changing circumstances, which helps organizations adapt to the fast-changing regulatory environment.

Agile compliance also prioritizes stakeholder’s satisfaction and customer data security above customer satisfaction. Because, if the data is secured and its integrity is maintained, data availability will not be an issue and, if cybersecurity governance, risk and compliance are considered, then a data-secure environment will ultimately lead to customer satisfaction. This can be done by following industry best practices.

6 best practices for compliance monitoring:

1. Regulatory environment

Before developing a product or service, business owners should understand the compliance & regulatory requirements of industry standards. It should be made an ongoing practice and not just one-time effort to stay updated regarding regulatory changes to adhere to such changes and understand the regulatory environment constantly.

2. Alignment of objectives for growth

Aligning the objectives of your business with the IT department is vital. When the business expands, it becomes inevitable to have an effective cybersecurity program in place that can withstand the business growth with no breaches & compromises.

3. Communication with stakeholders

Leveraging the Agile processes to communicate regularly with your stakeholders is advisable. This helps in keeping the stakeholders updated about the latest changes and helps them retain confidence in your business which is essential for growth.

4. Process automation

Process automation adds efficiency and accuracy to your everyday tasks which were previously done manually. Automation helps in delivery through capabilities and ensures compliance with regulatory standards in various regulated sectors.

5. Measuring security of your processes

Your business operates in a data-secure environment when all or most of your network devices meet the configuration and regulatory standards. This is considered a key performance indicator for your business’s progress.

6. Rapid solutions in case of a data breach

There is always a data-risk. Breach happens even when all security measures are in place.  So, it is advisable to update your security measures with the latest ones available because it will cost your business more if it takes longer to identify and contain a data breach. However, if the breach is identified and contained immediately, it costs less and helps in retaining the trust of your stakeholders.

Conclusion

Summing it up, it is important to follow the industry regulations for compliance monitoring. Not complying with industry regulations will cost business owners dearly and result in a loss in terms of revenue, stakeholders and goodwill. Let’s gear up for compliance monitoring in 2020.