For example, our CCO Calendar leverages data from your SEC filings and other sources to automatically schedule compliance testing and other important regulatory dates. Our forthcoming Document Manager helps clients maintain audit-ready compliance documents, including certifications and testing reports. The data in the Document Manager will be cross-checked against data in the SEC Filing Manager and the system will flag any inconsistencies. This allows the CCO to focus more on exceptions or regulatory updates and less on data input, documentation maintenance, and scheduling. Finally, a Policies Manager module will help CCOs create and maintain policies and procedures that are customized to their business. The policies will be cross-checked against data in the other applications to ensure there are no gaps or unnecessary policies. The Policies Manager will also integrate with the Compliance Calendar to schedule and initiate testing, which will give CCOs peace of mind that they are doing everything in the manual that they should be doing. The results of all these processes will be organized in the Document Manager.
As you can see, our focus is on integrating your data into your compliance processes so that you don’t need to constantly repeat administrative tasks, stay up-to-date with regulations that affect you, and make the processes faster, easier and more automated.
Hortz: How did you go about building your product? What processes and research do you use in its development?
Howell: I’m not a computer coder and I don’t have a background in information systems. But I am an end-user. I wanted to design a system that was easy for me and my fellow compliance officers. I knew the tasks that I didn’t want to do, like data input. With this perspective, I started to conceptually design a system that would cover the core areas of the compliance program: filings, testing, policies, and documentation. I talked with many compliance officers about the tools they wish they had. I then researched available products in the marketplace to determine what was missing or what could be done better. From there, it was a process of translating this market data into actual software.
Every week I spend time with the development team taking ideas from inside and outside our industry. Once we build an application, we immediately take it to market to get feedback from end users. As we get this real-time feedback from compliance officers, we prioritize the most important features and functionality. We keep a CCO wish list that changes as we get more feedback from our clients and prospective clients. We continually repeat this process. At the end of the day, we want our users to feel like they’ve helped build the product.
Hortz: Where are you focusing your R&D next? What other plans or enhancements are you working on?
Howell: We will continually expand and adjust our offerings based on feedback from clients and the needs of CCOs. For example, we recently added a services component in response to clients who have asked for additional help overseeing their compliance activities. Looking ahead, we plan to incorporate artificial intelligence to make our system even more intuitive and leverage data from outside the system. Our end goal is to automate at least 80% of the processes overseen by CCOs.
Hortz: Any final thoughts or advice you would like to share with advisors and advisory firms?
Howell: When building your compliance program, understand that one size doesn’t fit all - the SEC says this all the time and yet people don’t get the message. If you use generic documents and tools, the SEC will notice it and you put your business reputation at risk.
Just as important as having the right processes is having the right people to oversee those processes. A healthy compliance program needs a CCO that has the time and subject matter expertise to manage the processes and identify red flags or implement needed changes. If an advisory firm doesn’t have that person in-house, then they should consider outsourcing parts of their compliance programs to and using tools from providers like CCO Tech. As for vendor selection, any service provider that you select should be flexible, meaning they should adapt their products and services to your needs. You shouldn’t have to change your compliance program to meet your vendor’s needs.