More than 25% of your firm’s total market value is tied up in one asset: your firm’s reputation.
One significant threat to your reputation is employee compliance violations. Given the stakes of employee adherence to firm or regulatory policy, it’s critical to have the right employee code-of-conduct management software.
Here are six key questions to ask about employee compliance software, whether you already have a solution or want to add one.
1. Is the employee compliance software fully configurable?
Is it possible to configure the employee compliance software solution you’re using (or evaluating) to your specific needs? Or are the workflows, interface, and terminology it uses locked in some way?
For example, perhaps your firm tracks what it calls “outside business activities,” but the platform you’re looking at instead only uses the phrase “outside business affiliations.” Or maybe your firm tracks “private placements” but the solution you’re evaluating locks you into the phrase “private investments.” Such issues can cause user confusion and detract from the value of the solution.
Likewise, if you’re a consulting firm, and the solution you’re looking at only uses terminology and processes relevant to a private equity firm, that’s not a solution that will work well for you.
Intapp Employee Compliance is fully configurable to your firm’s specific needs, whether you’re trying to achieve compliance with Securities and Exchange Commission regulations, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) standards, or a firmwide code of ethics.
2. Does the employee compliance software enable self-service changes and include vendor support?
Your firm needs a software solution that strikes the right balance between empowering you to modify certain aspects and providing vendor support for implementation and changes. On the one hand, you don’t want to have to wait for vendor assistance every time you want to make a change — and on the other hand, you don’t want your vendor to be unavailable if you can’t figure out a change on your own.
With Intapp Employee Compliance, Intapp helps you initially implement and configure the solution, then provides self-service resources and tools so your team is empowered to update its chosen configurations. At the same time, if you have challenges after the initial set-up of Intapp Employee Compliance requiring our assistance, we’re here to support you.
3. Is the employee compliance vendor listening to client feedback and adding new functions to the software?
Just as important as a vendor’s availability for technical support is their willingness to update your solution to support compliance with new regulations and best practices. Whether you’re regulated by a government agency or subject to a professional organization’s standards, chances are that each year presents new employee compliance rules and standards. So you need a solution that evolves with the compliance landscape.
Intapp works closely with its clients to understand their needs and to inform our product development roadmap. We move quickly to implement new features and create client-requested capabilities.
4. Does the employee compliance software integrate with other critical systems, such as your HR software?
The employee compliance process often involves complying with policies relating to new hires and departed employees. For example, when an employee starts, you likely need them to review and sign your code of ethics. Likewise, when an employee leaves your firm, you may need to stop tracking certain information, such as the trades they’re making in their brokerage account.
To enable these responses, your employee compliance software must integrate with your human resources software so that automations are triggered by employee arrivals and departures.
Intapp Employee Compliance integrates with HR software as well as other business intelligence and reporting tools. It can even be integrated with historical data from a previous employee compliance system — so all your employee compliance data is stored in one place.
5. Does the employee compliance software solution enable you to manage investigations and collaborations?
Your employee compliance solution should provide a standard workflow for opening, managing, and tracking compliance investigations and audits. Your software should also enable you to assign tasks, procedures, and questions directly to individuals within your organization. These capabilities increase the efficiency of your employee compliance work, and they can both be found in Intapp Employee Compliance.
6. Does the employee compliance software product offer a modern, effective user experience?
Ease of use is another important consideration. Does the software you’re considering have a pleasing, modern interface? Does the platform make it easy for your employees to disclose required information? Are workflows well-designed? Is the tool intuitive to use?
These are all questions best answered via a live demo of the solution. We invite you to schedule a demo of Intapp Employee Compliance to experience its modern user interface and many other advantages.