5 Reasons You Need Compliance Technology
Without effective compliance technology, organizations face an uphill struggle to achieve cost-effective compliance, mitigate risk exposure and fuel business growth.
Given the risks and costs, HR and payroll compliance is a common area of concern for businesses in every industry. As organizations expand their operations, businesses must leverage technology to pursue compliance, especially when lawmakers know that tools exist to help businesses comply with the laws they enact. In fact, without access to compliance technology, organizations may struggle to comply with laws and regulations as they evolve and expand.
In Gartner's 2024 Legal and Compliance Executive Priorities Poll, 40 percent of respondents reported technology as a top priority — the second most common response. Here are five ways compliance technology can benefit your organization.
1. Reduces manual tasks and boosts productivity
Much of the work involved in corporate compliance depends on a firm's ability to track and report activity related to the requirements of a particular law or regulation. Without technology to gather and analyze large datasets, many organizations still rely on spreadsheets, emails and disparate legacy systems to meet compliance obligations — a recipe for inefficiencies. Ultimately, manually tracking and managing compliance is time-consuming, costly and prone to human error.
Automating compliance workflows enables businesses to minimize — and often eliminate — the need for expensive, time-consuming tasks. In turn, that allows your organization to reassign headcount to higher-value tasks.
2. Aligns people, processes and technology to improve operational efficiency
Compliance technology typically includes standard workflows designed to facilitate compliance. In turn, streamlined workflows capture and manipulate data more efficiently, while providing greater transparency and visibility into an organization's efforts to ensure compliance. While conforming to predefined workflows takes time and effort to accomplish, most compliance packages allow for some degree of customization.
3. Lowers costs and increases efficiency
Deploying compliance technology allows organizations to retire legacy software and eliminate costly inefficiencies. Technology also allows businesses to conduct rigorous, proactive analysis to confirm their compliance as well as uncover potential gaps in their ability to support an effective program across the enterprise.
Failing to invest in compliance technology often leads to higher long-term costs due to inefficient processes, penalties and audit failures. Automated reporting features in compliance technology can also reduce the cost of preparing an audit, extending your savings further.
4. Strengthens risk management and reduces legal exposure
Laws and regulations change often — and quickly. Staying ahead of legal requirements is one of the biggest compliance challenges organizations face. Without real-time tracking, companies risk unintentional non-compliance, which can result in fines, reputational damage and legal disputes.
Compliance technology can automatically update policies and procedures to align with new laws. These solutions also allow you to track regulatory changes in real time across multiple jurisdictions. On top of keeping you up to date, these solutions can help you identify compliance gaps before they become legal liabilities.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, many compliance penalties are increasing, so minimizing risk requires a modern strategy. The rise of laws governing AI usage, particularly in employment decisions, further complicates the compliance landscape. (For more on the states and countries passing AI laws, read the HR Trends 2025 Guidebook.)
5. Prepares your business for future growth
As businesses expand into new markets or industries, compliance requirements become more complex. While each new opportunity may require updates to an organization's existing compliance strategies, leveraging technology allows businesses to grow confidently, knowing they can comply with the evolving body of laws and regulations.
Scalable compliance technology equips organizations to adapt to new laws, manage compliance across multiple locations or standardize compliance processes company-wide. Compliance tools can integrate with enterprise systems for seamless scalability to ensure consistent policy enforcement, automate risk management and enhance operational efficiency across the organization. These solutions can also help ensure compliance readiness when entering new markets, equipping your organization for future success.
Compliance technology is a strategic imperative for long-term success
"Compliance is a great opportunity to ask bigger questions," says Helena Almeida, vice president and managing counsel at ADP. "What do new compliance requirements mean for your organization, and how can you use those requirements to support your other goals and initiatives?"
Without compliance technology, businesses face increasing risks, inefficiencies and rising compliance costs — making manual processes unsustainable. By streamlining compliance, reducing legal exposure and enhancing documentation management for audits and regulatory reporting, organizations can minimize errors, improve efficiency and position themselves for long-term growth.
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