| |June 20199Traditional compliance programs use what might be called a "push" method. Compliance officers draft policies and communication pieces and "push" them out to their constituencies. They create new hire orientation and train-ing programs and "push" them out to indoctrinate their members with the information they need.The role of the employee or organization member under this approach is passive. Compliance messages are pushed out to team members who in most cases did not ask for the new information and are receiving it in the ab-stract context of "If you are ever in this situation, this is the rule that would apply." Employees are expected to then "inventory" this information somewhere in the minds until they actually need it at some point in the future under the belief they will be able to not only remember it, but will also be able to apply it correctly. The problem is, they often can't do either."Just In Time" Pull of Compliance InformationRemember when it was common practice for suppliers of a manufacturing company to "push out" months' worth of parts to their customers? Manufacturers had to pay for and store these goods until they actually needed them for production. This tied-up space and capital for the manufac-turing company, and in the meantime, parts might be lost or damaged or become ob-solete over time as they were stored but not used. Now, however, with the advent of "just in time" supply methods and technology, manufacturers "pull" and pay for only the parts and supplies needed to meet their immediate manufacturing need. Valuable capital is no longer tied-up in part inventory, storage space is minimized, shrinkage is reduced and efficiencies abound.Similarly, technology can also provide "just in time" compliance resources as well. Instead of "pushing out" large volumes of compliance policies and educational content to employees, technology enables a "pull" model where employees obtain the exact compliance information and resources they need, exactly when they need them.Imagine the previous scenario, but leveraging technol-ogy to limit compliance risk. When your sales person lands in Asia, the compliance application on her company-issued mobile phone uses GPS to determine her location and sends her an alert reading, "Welcome to Asia! For more information about conducting business here, please read our country guide (with a link to a customized guide for that region.) While you are here, please remember the gift limits for this region, you can find them here (with a link to the local gift policy.) Please remember the region you are in ranks high on the corruption perception index and bribes may be demanded. This is an especially sensitive area if entertainment of government officials is involved. To see if your plans comply with our policy, please use our gifts and entertainment decision tree found here (with a link to a decision tree.) To review our anticorruption policy, please click here (with a link.) While you are in Asia, if you have compliance questions or concerns, here is the num-ber to a local English speaking compliance officer who can help you." This type of technology, along with a translation app and currency exchange rate calculator can empower your employee to be more compliant. You have given her in-stant access to the exact information she needs to make bet-ter, smarter, and more informed decisions, thus limiting the compliance risk inherent in doing business in a devel-oping market. Mobile apps like the one described here are increasingly available and are truly only the tip of the pro-verbial iceberg when it comes to potential technology ap-plications for compliance. Exciting advancements in AI and machine learning are paving the way toward a day in the not-so-distant future when we will be able to provide every employee with their own customized, individual, "virtual" compliance officer, right in the palm of their hand. The ability to reach employees right where they are, with the exact information they need, the moment they need it, is a technology use case clearly meriting the investment. Gwendolyn Lee Hassan
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