No Result
View All Result
SUBSCRIBE | NO FEES, NO PAYWALLS
MANAGE MY SUBSCRIPTION
NEWSLETTER
Corporate Compliance Insights
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • CCI Magazine
    • Writing for CCI
    • Career Connection
    • NEW: CCI Press – Book Publishing
    • Advertise With Us
  • Explore Topics
    • See All Articles
    • Compliance
    • Ethics
    • Risk
    • FCPA
    • Governance
    • Fraud
    • Internal Audit
    • HR Compliance
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
    • Financial Services
    • Well-Being at Work
    • Leadership and Career
    • Opinion
  • Vendor News
  • Library
    • Download Whitepapers & Reports
    • Download eBooks
    • New: Living Your Best Compliance Life by Mary Shirley
    • New: Ethics and Compliance for Humans by Adam Balfour
    • 2021: Raise Your Game, Not Your Voice by Lentini-Walker & Tschida
    • CCI Press & Compliance Bookshelf
  • Podcasts
    • Great Women in Compliance
    • Unless: The Podcast (Hemma Lomax)
  • Research
  • Webinars
  • Events
  • Subscribe
Jump to a Section
  • At the Office
    • Ethics
    • HR Compliance
    • Leadership & Career
    • Well-Being at Work
  • Compliance & Risk
    • Compliance
    • FCPA
    • Fraud
    • Risk
  • Finserv & Audit
    • Financial Services
    • Internal Audit
  • Governance
    • ESG
    • Getting Governance Right
  • Infosec
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
  • Opinion
    • Adam Balfour
    • Jim DeLoach
    • Mary Shirley
    • Yan Tougas
No Result
View All Result
Corporate Compliance Insights
Home Compliance

The Regulatory Storm Is Coming. Compliance Can Help Tech Leaders Batten Down the Hatches

Technology companies have long operated with libertarian abandon, but that is soon to change

by Stuart Breslow
September 14, 2022
in Compliance
regulatory storm

The “move fast and break things” mentality that serves tech entrepreneurs well when they’re getting their companies off the ground can down the road run them into a very big brick wall: compliance. While some aspects of the tech sector remain something of an untamed frontier, there’s no doubt that at least when it comes to ESG, tech leaders need to take a different approach. Compliance adviser Stuart Breslow shares insights into how tech entrepreneurs can lead the way rather than playing catch-up.

Technology firms are increasingly in the field of vision of regulators and ESG investors, both being stakeholders with a strong interest in corporate governance. This growing trend should be a wake-up call to executives. 

To position themselves amidst intensified scrutiny, new economy players need to think — and act — differently. They can no longer play fast and loose. One part of their challenge now is to embrace an effective compliance regime without losing the entrepreneurial spirit that got them to where they are today. The good news for these companies is that it’s not too late. There is a window of opportunity to make the changes needed before change is forced upon them.

The libertarian instincts of tech leaders are well-known. Classically, they have been left alone to build digital empires unfettered by regulation. Unfortunately, it is these same pioneers who must set the tone for compliance within their organizations. 

Introducing change requires tech leaders to foster a compliance-focused culture. This may not sit comfortably with the “move fast and break things” mentality espoused by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, but it is essential to the long-term sustainability and competitiveness of new economy companies.

A cultural shift

For tech leaders looking to do the right thing, the roadmap for implementing a robust compliance regime is not well-marked. Law enforcement and regulators haven’t prescribed what “good” compliance looks like for industries in the new economy other than in a general way through the U.S. federal sentencing guidelines. As the federal guidelines are in large part principles-based, it is up to tech leaders to fill in the blanks.

This lack of clarity gives tech firms the opportunity to seize the initiative and set the course at their organizations and for their industry. To get ahead of regulators, they should consider creating a robust compliance regime that will prepare them for whatever might come next.

Importantly, this doesn’t necessitate a complete restructuring to mirror, for example, the heavily regulated financial industry. Senior leaders would still have the freedom to pick and choose among policies and approaches to best shape what compliance should look like for their organizations.

Building the foundations

While tech leaders have a degree of latitude with how they approach compliance requirements under federal sentencing guidelines, businesses are expected to do several things.

They must appoint a chief compliance officer and management and board committees to “own” compliance. The appointment of a chief compliance officer (or chief risk officer) is a vital first step toward defining and driving compliance efforts, as well as demonstrating to regulators and other stakeholders that the company takes compliance seriously.

In addition, companies must establish, communicate, monitor and enforce a set of written policies and procedures across the organization. These policies need to address important issues like potential misuse of material non-public information (MNPI), a high-risk area to which many tech firms only pay lip service. While businesses may create policies to address these and other issues, policies without robust processes to enforce them, and a mindset to understand them, just won’t cut it these days.

While compliance programs must be tailored to the needs of the organization, they don’t all need to cascade down through the entire firm. Rather, they can be targeted to select groups.

For example, with respect to MNPI, organizations should identify key people with access to non-public information and then have monitoring processes in place for them. Indeed, corporations outside of financial services have generally understood their executives’ and employees’ personal securities trading obligations to be limited to adopting policies for trading and directed brokerage for employee stock plans. However, only a subset of these companies have, with respect to a very limited number of corporate insiders, adopted trade pre-clearance and reporting processes. These are generally manual.

While C-level appointments and a rules-based framework are necessary, in themselves, they are not sufficient. A culture of compliance must permeate the entire organization. This requires transparency and consistency in the application of the compliance framework. It also necessitates a firm-wide understanding that compliance is not only a role for the C-suite but a personal responsibility of everyone.

A tech solution

To embed this culture, compliance officers have traditionally spent much of their time on manual processes, tracking everything from personal trading to entertainment and the giving and receiving of gifts. Compliance technology can automate many of these processes, using sophisticated algorithms to mirror a firm’s code of conduct. 

Given the innate appreciation that new economy firms have for the use of technology, many tech businesses will take easily to the use of third-party SaaS-based compliance solutions to embed these new approaches to compliance. 

Whatever route a tech firm takes to bolster its compliance efforts, inevitably someone somewhere in the organization will do something wrong. The company must have in place compliance policies supported by robust compliance detection, reporting and analytics to demonstrate that the misbehavior was one-off and not systemic.

As a result, it is time not to consider whether compliance is important or necessary but how best to embrace it as a part of the organization’s overall mindset and behaviors. This will enable businesses to bear scrutiny and even gain a competitive edge. Only that way can new economy firms be assured that they will be able to pursue the industry-changing innovations that are their hallmark.


Tags: ESGTechnology
Previous Post

Why ‘Quiet Quitting’ Could Harm Ethics & Compliance Functions

Next Post

I Call Bullshit on ‘Quiet Quitting’

Stuart Breslow

Stuart Breslow

Stuart Breslow is an independent board member at StarCompliance. He is a prominent senior executive with 30-plus years of experience in world-class financial services, consulting and technology organizations.

Related Posts

eu flags brussels

EU’s Regulatory Retreat? The Omnibus Package’s Impact on Sustainability Reporting

by Jon Solorzano, Kelly Rondinelli and Jacob Baltzegar
April 28, 2025

Extended timelines and reduced requirements offer relief as substantial reforms remain under consideration

data abstract green purple

66% of CISOs Worry Cyber Threats Are More Advanced Than Companies’ Defenses

by Staff and Wire Reports
April 25, 2025

US business sector falling behind in adoption of renewable energy

tree cover

Sustainability Belongs Everywhere

by Alekhya Reddy
April 2, 2025

Climate-related compliance extends beyond reporting mandates to address strategic business continuity challenges

greenhushing

Strategic Silence or Ethical Evasion? The Ethics of ‘Greenhushing’ in a Polarized Climate

by Vera Cherepanova
March 19, 2025

Companies face difficult choices about how much of their sustainability progress to publicize

Next Post
quiet quitting leaving on time

I Call Bullshit on ‘Quiet Quitting’

No Result
View All Result

Privacy Policy | AI Policy

Founded in 2010, CCI is the web’s premier global independent news source for compliance, ethics, risk and information security. 

Got a news tip? Get in touch. Want a weekly round-up in your inbox? Sign up for free. No subscription fees, no paywalls. 

Follow Us

Browse Topics:

  • CCI Press
  • Compliance
  • Compliance Podcasts
  • Cybersecurity
  • Data Privacy
  • eBooks Published by CCI
  • Ethics
  • FCPA
  • Featured
  • Financial Services
  • Fraud
  • Governance
  • GRC Vendor News
  • HR Compliance
  • Internal Audit
  • Leadership and Career
  • On Demand Webinars
  • Opinion
  • Research
  • Resource Library
  • Risk
  • Uncategorized
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Well-Being
  • Whitepapers

© 2025 Corporate Compliance Insights

Welcome to CCI. This site uses cookies. Please click OK to accept. Privacy Policy
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • CCI Magazine
    • Writing for CCI
    • Career Connection
    • NEW: CCI Press – Book Publishing
    • Advertise With Us
  • Explore Topics
    • See All Articles
    • Compliance
    • Ethics
    • Risk
    • FCPA
    • Governance
    • Fraud
    • Internal Audit
    • HR Compliance
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
    • Financial Services
    • Well-Being at Work
    • Leadership and Career
    • Opinion
  • Vendor News
  • Library
    • Download Whitepapers & Reports
    • Download eBooks
    • New: Living Your Best Compliance Life by Mary Shirley
    • New: Ethics and Compliance for Humans by Adam Balfour
    • 2021: Raise Your Game, Not Your Voice by Lentini-Walker & Tschida
    • CCI Press & Compliance Bookshelf
  • Podcasts
    • Great Women in Compliance
    • Unless: The Podcast (Hemma Lomax)
  • Research
  • Webinars
  • Events
  • Subscribe

© 2025 Corporate Compliance Insights