Businesses are tasked daily to increase revenue and maintain profit margins. With today’s economy a competitive edge no matter how minuscule can be the difference between a win and a loss. We see this in retail, in the job market, in manufacturing and now in security and compliance.

I know. It’s hard to even think of the money spent on compliance as any kind of competitive advantage. But stop for a moment. There are two factors here: First, continuous compliance reduces the cost of being compliant. Second, by ingraining continuous compliance into our business culture it erases the perceived burden. If we changed our approach to security and compliance and made it less about passing the audit and more about business strategy and protecting the organizations information assets the competitive edge is much clearer. By protecting our customer data we are telling our customers that we value them.

Continuous compliance removes the fire drill mentality, lessens the cost, and empowers your IT department and enterprise as a whole. Recently I ran across a case study on Wells Fargo and their continuous auditing program that shared concrete metrics to prove this. It indicated that they saved “$400,000 in travel expenses and reduced budgeted hours by 23,500 annually.” This is huge and a time and money savings that every organization should strive for! So move beyond the point-in-time audit check mark. Create a dynamic, proactive compliance program, and flaunt your competitive edge.

Share your successes, struggles and ideas on Continuous Compliance. We would love to hear from you!

Disclosure: I’ll start out with the intent of touching on being proactive rather than reactionary in regards to risk management….but we’ll see where we end up!

This blog idea came to me while I was driving through middle-of-nowhere West Texas. I have always noticed the growing prevalence of people feeling they are owed things and the increasing lack of common sense in this world, but never really said anything to more than just my friends. In late October, I was passing through a small po-dunk country town and noticed that the community pool had already been drained for the winter. Of course, in good small-town country fashion, all that was left was a deep empty cement hole. My first thought was thinking how refreshing it was to see that! You mean kids and adults are actually smart enough out here to realize that there is no water in there…so if you jump in you can actually hurt yourself?

Now, granted, I do know accidents happen and the community did have a relatively high metal fence surrounding the pool area so don’t worry too much. I also know that covering your pool is being “proactive” and I realize why many people cover their pools. It was just a good feeling to remember what common sense looked like and all the old memories of learning things the “hard way” that created that proactive method of reason! You know you touch the stove and it burned you, so you learned to hold your hand over it first…or how bout the time you left a pack of gum in your jeans and put them through the wash. Then got to spend the next hour trying to pick gum off of everything! Or how about you ate grilled chicken for the first time…realized it was so much better fried…so now you just fry everything first! The infamous McDonald’s coffee law-suit also comes to mind.

My point is when we walk through the doors we are committed to helping our clients take a common sense approach to risk and compliance. Educating our customers about doing things not just for the sake of compliance but for the sake of the growth of their businesses.

This guest post is written by Paul Reymann, CEO and founder of the Reymann Group. He is one of the nation’s leading regulatory experts and co-author of Section 501 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act Security rule. He is also the author of numerous articles and papers on technology risk, transactional web sites, customer information, network security and other technology and safety and soundness topics.

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the late 90s and Internet banking was the new rave! The new killer app. It was going to replace brick and mortar branches… yadayadayada…There was a lot of chatter (that’s face-to-face, we were not yet instant messaging or texting) about the power and risk of Internet banking. We were waiting in line to get an email account on our company computers to gain access to the Internet.

Social media in banking has this similar excitement about it, yet with several obvious differences. First – I have not heard any suggestions that it will replace brick and mortar operations. Although, I guess there is a chance that websites may become obsolete. Second – The chatter back then was face-to-face physical and virtual. I have to admit, I am still trying to figure out how to read some of the virtual chatter. I think Webster needs to publish a texting dictionary for us non-Gen Y folks. Third – Most folks use a cell phone, email, instant messaging, website, blog, text messaging, LinkedIn, or Facebook to communicate now.

Enough of the 90s.

Looking ahead – what are the implications of social media/networking for banks and credit unions? I presented on this topic recently at a banking summit that explored the future of risk management. It was exciting to hear how many of the attendees are embracing it even though they are struggling with how to move forward with social networking for their institutions. So many questions…What regulations apply, what is the value, what are the risks, how do we get started prudently, how much resources will we need to commit, what are the security implications, will Prosper and Zopa become a competitive threat, what will it cost, how do we control the use of it…..? All valid questions that need answers.

If you are exploring the next steps for your bank or credit union with social networking, I would value your questions and comments. Lets take the conversation physical and virtual. Feel free to respond here or if you were born before the Internet generation (like I was), just give me a ring.

Lastly, I invite you to listen in this Thursday to a brief webinar on the topic – Social Media Risk Management for Financial Institutions.

I’ve been trying to get back into a workout routine (a regular one that is) so I pushed myself to go to the gym. One particular aerobics class, Zumba, caught my attention. It seemed fun. I decided to wait an hour till that class started. If they could make exercise fun, I was in! Let me tell you I had a soaking wet BLAST! The class is only offered once a week and I’m laughing at myself because I cannot wait to go back to exercise. Can you imagine?

Zumba’s slogan is: “Ditch the workout, join the party!” One peek at the video and you’ll understand why. It dawned on me today that this is the same philosophy that we’ve been voicing here at The Garland Group. Compliance can be fun! When organizations change their approach to compliance and look at it as an exciting challenge it’s no longer a chore but a fun initiative. When the entire organization is involved, when we establish a daily routine, compliance becomes an exercise in efficiency, ease, and yes fun.  So join the party: look at compliance with new eyes, make it fun, have it a part of your daily activities and invite your entire enterprise to the party!