Businesses often treat compliance as a burden. After all, keeping up with compliance needs often slows down the forward momentum, and it is not easy to keep track of ever-changing requirements. Whether you are dealing privacy laws, FedRAMP compliance, or any other compliance matter, it is sometimes necessary to think out of the box. In this post, we are discussing a term called “compliance automation”, which is likely to be used more often in years to come. Here’s an overview.
Understanding compliance automation
First and foremost, it is important to understand that compliance automation is not about engaging a professional service, nor it is a host hardening tool. It is not a GRC tool either, and it doesn’t focus on management of configuration. Simply put, compliance automation is about cloud security and offers a platform, which offers a “compliance-ready environment”. Think of this as a tool that offers assistance with scanning for vulnerabilities and endpoint security. It also aids in configurations, and finally, it creates codes that can be deployed for configuring controls to meet compliance needs.
The purpose
The need for compliance automation platform is obvious. It allows to configure the infrastructure in a way that requirements for compliance are met, and all standards are adhered to. How is this different from GRC tools? Well, not to downplay GRC tools, but these tools are designed to tell organizations what they need to do to stay compliant, so a considerable amount of work is left for the managers and IT teams to manage. When it comes to professional services, there is no automation involved. The biggest advantage & win for compliance automation platform is automation. It not only figures out the configurations, but also eases deployment. It also keeps a check on new compliance needs. Expectedly, compliance automation is only done on the cloud and is likely to become a norm in no time.
Other aspects
Whether it is about penetration testing, or anything related to compliance, GRC tools don’t really configure environments. That’s where it becomes essential to think of CA as a solution. There is no unwanted guesswork, and the whole platform is reliant on speed. Compliance automation relies on architecture that has been tested and can be duplicated for business needs.
There is no denying that compliance automation will reduce costs of compliance, and more businesses will be interested in this, because it frees companies of the possible issues that crop up with regular monitoring.
