In March at the Women in Defense Small Business Summit we spoke about compliance and the risk businesses face, especially small businesses as a result of unpreparedness or simply ignoring it entirely. It’s a known fact compliance by some businesses is seen as cost. It’s also a known fact that non-compliance leads to regulatory violations that end up costing businesses thousands and millions of dollars, money down the drain because a business just said “nah, it ain’t gonna happen to us”. I said it before and I’ll repeat it again an ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of gold in this space. Okay enough with preaching and let’s get to four steps you can take today:
1. Start - decide to start with one area and get to the bottom of it.
2. Assess your risk exposure from a regulatory perspective. If you’re in aerospace and defense it is highly likely you need to comply with at least one of the following #ITAR, #EAR, #FAR, #DFARS, #buyamericanact Pick one and tackle one compliance aspect. Again, start.
3. Train the employees who need to know then train the organization. Train the people sufficiently enough to have an understanding of when to raise the questions.
4. Find the resources that will help you accomplish your goals and make them part of your team.
Bonus: Don’t wait till it’s too late to do something. In times of crisis you’ll be dealing with other major issues in addition to compliance, because you’ll deal with compliance amidst your crisis whether you like it or not.
If you have questions about starting a compliance program or want to review what you already have to make sure the ducks are in a row email us at contact@dismondy.pc or call +1.734.746.5006