Automation in Compliance – Saving Time Without Sacrificing Accuracy

Introduction: The Compliance Efficiency Dilemma  

The global regulatory landscape is continuing to evolve in line with technological advances and growing cyber threats. The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), the updated Network and Information Security (NIS 2) Directive and the EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act all are either now applicable to in-scope businesses operating within the EU or will soon come into effect. Meanwhile, the UK has its own legislation, including the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill currently being developed. 

As pressure to ensure compliance increases, many compliance leaders find themselves struggling to find a balance. How can businesses meet rigorous regulatory requirements while driving operational efficiencies, reducing manual workload, and improving accuracy? Here, automation offers part of the solution, particularly for time-intensive tasks like evidence collection and reporting, but it can also unwittingly add new risks to your compliance process if it isn’t implemented strategically. 

Automation alone isn’t the answer. In this blog, we’ll explore how businesses can implement automation to enhance their compliance efforts while leveraging human expertise to ensure security, accuracy and strategic decision-making. 

Why Automation is Essential in Modern Compliance 

Many businesses face the challenge of complying with multiple regulations using multiple frameworks, such as ISO 27001 and NIST CSF. Juggling everything required for compliance, from risk assessments and internal audits to policy updates and reporting, presents a complex and potentially overwhelming task for compliance teams. Manually managing compliance requirements across an array of frameworks and to meet a range of often stringent requirements can lead to errors, inefficiencies, and compliance fatigue.  

The Thomson Reuters 2023 Risk & Compliance report found that identifying and assessing risk was the most challenging area in the risk and compliance workflow, cited by 56% of respondents, followed by monitoring compliance, cited by 52% of respondents. Compliance teams can benefit significantly from leveraging automation in these areas to manage risk and compliance while maintaining vital human oversight. 

Automation also offers an essential opportunity for organisations to reduce compliance teams’ manual workload. In fact, the Thomson Reuters report found that almost two-thirds (65%) of respondents said streamlining and automating manual processes would help reduce the complexity and cost of risk and compliance. Additionally, a McKinsey article states that “about 60 percent of all occupations could see 30 percent or more of their constituent activities automated.”  

Time-consuming admin tasks including tracking evidence collection, generating reports and flagging risks can be successfully automated, with varying levels of human intervention necessary. By adding automation to your compliance toolkit, your compliance team can focus on strategy, risk mitigation and business alignment rather than repetitive tasks that lead to compliance fatigue, human error and costly financial and reputational consequences.  

Embedding automation into your compliance also provides compelling strategic benefits. For example, automating task reminders can bolster your organisation’s long-term resilience: ensure that key tasks are never overlooked, align with evolving regulatory requirements, and receive consistent human oversight so they continue to support your compliance goals.  

Adding Automation to Your Compliance Toolkit 

Automation can do a lot of the heavy lifting for your compliance team, but there are still areas that require consistent human oversight – over-reliance on automation can lead to missed compliance issues or data inaccuracies. A blend of automation and human decision-making can combine to create a fortified, streamlined compliance strategy. 

Fully Automatable Tasks 

• Audit trails and reporting: Automatically log changes, track version history, and generate compliance reports instead of spending time manually entering data.  

• Monitoring security controls: Auto-check compliance status against predefined controls so your organisation remains compliant.  

• Task and deadline reminders: Automated alerts for policy reviews, risk assessments, and audits, removing the risk of missed deadlines.  

Tasks Requiring Human Oversight 

• Risk assessments: Automation can highlight potential risks, but human judgment is required to analyse impact.  

• Incident response and decision-making: Automated alerts help detect issues, but expert input ensures correct response.  

• Compliance strategy and policy creation: Automation can support implementation, but governance needs human input.  

Finding the Right Balance: Smart Automation with Human Oversight  

Organisations that approach compliance as a ‘set and forget’ exercise in box ticking often find themselves struggling to remain compliant long-term. Regulations shift, businesses grow, and yesterday’s processes quickly become outdated. That’s where automation can make a real difference – helping organisations stay aligned with regulatory expectations, bolster resilience, and respond faster to change. 

Used well, automation brings agility to compliance. It can reduce the burden of manual tasks, minimise the risk of human error, and help you avoid costly fines or reputational damage. But relying solely on automation is a risk in itself. Algorithms can’t interpret context, nuance, or evolving risk in the way people can. 

That’s why the most effective compliance strategies combine automation with human oversight. Automation should support decision-making, not replace it. The human element remains essential – particularly when it comes to interpreting risks, reviewing controls, and making judgement calls. 

Take ISO 27001, for example. It lends itself well to smart automation: task reminders, audit trail creation, and policy review workflows can all be automated. But core elements – like risk assessments and defining treatment plans – still require human input. 

In fact, our information security experts estimate that only around 20% of ISO 27001 can be fully automated. That’s why a balanced approach, one that brings together people, processes, and technology, is key to long-term compliance success. 

Automate with Control with ISMS.online 

ISMS.online enables you to marry automation seamlessly with human governance. The platform comes with pre-configured compliance automation out of the box, reducing your team’s manual workload while keeping human oversight and control a top priority. Streamlined smart workflows also help your compliance team to stay audit-ready while maintaining visibility.  

The ISMS.online platform also integrates with your core third-party software – such as JIRA, Slack, Microsoft and PowerBI – to keep your compliance data flowing without silos, missed evidence or clunky data transfer processes. Your automated processes will do the heavy lifting for you, while your team can simply validate those tasks requiring human supervision.  

With ISMS.online, compliance progress is also easy to view and monitor within your customisable project dashboard, giving you 360-degree oversight of your risk profile, policy and control status, third-party supplier assessments and more. 

Supercharge Your Compliance with Strategic Automation 

A robust automation strategy doesn’t rely on removing humans from compliance. Instead, a strategic blend of automated tasks and human checks empower compliance teams to focus on what matters. Unlock long-term compliance resilience, adapt quickly to evolving regulatory requirements, and free up your team’s valuable time and resources to focus on the important tasks, not menial day-to-day admin and evidence collection.  

Efficiency, accuracy, and risk reduction come from balancing automation with expert oversight. The right compliance automation strategy will not replace human oversight—it will empower your team to focus on what really matters: risk mitigation, resilience, and business growth. 

If you’re ready to embed automation in your compliance strategy, see the ISMS.online platform in action – take a self-guided, interactive platform tour. Or, for a personalised approach, book your demo.