DevOps for Regulatory Compliance: Meeting Industry Standards

Look, I’ll be straight with you – compliance is a massive headache. Every company I’ve worked with over the past few years has been struggling with the same thing: how do you stay on top of all these regulations without going broke or losing your mind?

The economy’s been rough lately, and that’s made everything worse. Companies are cutting budgets left and right, but guess what? The regulations aren’t going anywhere. If anything, they’re getting more complicated.

So here’s what I’ve been seeing work: using DevOps approaches to handle compliance. I know, I know – DevOps sounds like another tech buzzword. But stick with me here.

Most companies handle compliance like it’s 1995. They hire a compliance officer, maybe build a whole department, create a bunch of policies that nobody reads, and hope for the best. Then audit time comes around and everyone panics.

I was talking to a startup founder last month who spent six months trying to hire a healthcare compliance expert. Six months! Meanwhile, they couldn’t launch their product because they needed HIPAA certification. That’s just nuts.

Or take manufacturing companies – they’re dealing with safety regulations that change constantly. Whenever there is a new standard introduced, they are left to understand what is expected, and how to introduce and implement it. It was very reactive, expensive, and quite frankly stressful for everyone involved.

Here’s the thing about DevOps – it’s really about collaboration and automation. When you apply that thinking to compliance, some interesting things happen.

First, you get predictability. Instead of compliance being this unknown black box that could blow up on you in an audit, you have clear processes that are organized consistently. You get to use a recipe instead of adding random ingredients and hoping it works.

Second, you can actually control costs. Instead of hiring full-time staff for every single possible compliance scenario where you may ever find yourself, you are engaging specialist staff only when needed. You have an excellent plumber you can call, instead of full-time plumber on staff. 

And added bonus, your team can focus on what they are great at. I’ve seen too many brilliant developers get stuck writing compliance reports instead of building products. That’s just wasteful.

And here’s something cool – you can adapt quickly. New regulation comes out? Your DevOps partner already knows about it and has processes ready to go. Try doing that with an internal team that’s learning everything from scratch.

This is where people get confused. You don’t outsource everything – that would be crazy. Your core business decisions, your software architecture, your strategic planning – that stuff stays with you.

But compliance monitoring? Audit preparation? Regulatory reporting? That’s perfect for outsourcing. It’s specialized work that changes frequently, and unless you’re in the compliance business, it’s not your competitive advantage.

I worked with a fintech company that kept trying to build their own compliance team. They burned through three compliance officers in two years, spent a fortune on training, and still got dinged in their audit. Finally, they partnered with a DevOps vendor that specialized in financial regulations. Problem solved in six weeks.

You’ve got options here, and the right choice depends on your situation:

Basically, you rent some extra hands. The vendor’s people work with your team, follow your processes, and you manage them directly. This works if you know what you’re doing but just need more capacity.

The vendor takes over specific compliance tasks and reports back to you. They have their own expertise and as a matter of fact, their own people and processes too. This is great, when you want the results without having to be involved in the day-to-day aspect of that process.

The vendor owns entire compliance areas and guarantees specific outcomes. This puts all the risk on them, which costs more but gives you the most peace of mind.

I’ve seen companies succeed with all three approaches. It really depends on your internal capabilities and how much control you want to maintain.

Don’t try to change everything at once. Start with your biggest compliance headache and see if an external partnership makes sense there.

Think about these questions: Is this something we really need to be an expert at? Or is it something we just need done? If it’s the latter, you should really consider getting some help.

Don’t forget to keep your growth plans in mind too. If your company is growing rapidly, using external expertise will allow you to stay ahead of compliance without slowing down. If you’re more stable, maybe building internal capabilities makes sense.

Here’s what I tell everyone: compliance isn’t going away, and it’s not getting simpler. The companies that figure out how to handle it efficiently are going to have a huge advantage.

DevOps practices give you a framework for tackling these challenges without breaking your budget or driving your team crazy. Whether you build internal capabilities, partner with vendors, or do some combination, the key is being smart about it.

The winners won’t be the companies that avoid compliance challenges – they’ll be the ones that turn compliance into something that actually helps their business run better.