By Adam Turteltaub

Harsh Kariwala, CEO of VComply, warns that traditional tools for managing compliance programs, such as spreadsheets, may be hurting your compliance program. They often are not scalable and can lead to inefficiencies and unnecessary complexities.

Automating your compliance program can be a natural choice, but organizations may resist doing so out of budgetary concerns or mindset. Budget is typically of greatest concern for smaller organizations, which have less to spend and are eager to build or sustain their cultures.

If your organization is ready for automation, he recommends identifying the tools and technology that you would want, followed by defining what process you want to start with.

Take a phased approach to automation rather than trying to do everything at once. Pick one area to start, and analyze what is going right and wrong in the process. This will give you a better sense of the tools you will need and challenges you face.

Measure success by the value it provides to the end user in areas such as time saved versus manual projects and potential penalties that are avoided.

Finally, he advises avoiding the mistake of trying to do everything at once. So, take the first steps now, and listen to the podcast, but not all the podcasts.