Digitally Transforming in a Regulated Industry: How You Can and Why You Should

Here are some tips to keep top of mind when trying to advance your internal processes to stay digital and relevant.

• Think globally – Language is an important consideration for regulated industries trying to follow compliance standards. Regulated industries are global industries, so organizations likely need to be able to shift their documents into different languages at any time. For example, healthcare organizations that receive U.S. federal funding such as Medicare and Medicaid have an obligation to provide translated documents to patients. This requires the ability to turn around a document into another language especially quickly, and it must do so well when aiming to convey important health information. Tools exist to help this happen instantaneously.

• Embrace cloud-based tools – With organizations and offices in different locations around the world, varying email requirements, and data storage laws, it’s impossible to create dynamic documents and manage them all centrally. The cloud must be trusted to manage all documents effectively. Plus, with subscription-model pricing, speedy ramp-up and endless space, cloud-based tools provide the best conditions for accessible and timely digital transformation – a must in an era where organizations are racing the clock to innovate. After all, according to KPMG, 90 percent of organizations have carried out a digital transformation initiative within the last two years.

• Appoint a digital transformation manager – When trying to digitally transform and embrace a fully digital workplace, it can be too easy to let regulations slip away through the cracks through the use of a new digital capability. When one person is put in charge of vetting all solutions and making sure they adhere to company policy and industry regulations, no violations can sneak through. More and more, companies are choosing to hire one person whose sole job is enabling the innovation of processes while monitoring for compliance.

• Focus on buy-in – Embracing digital transformation for any measure within an organization, whether it concerns document creation or otherwise, creates the need for leadership buy-in. After all, any kind of internal technological initiative requires significant budget allocation as well as the overhaul of infrastructure and organization-wide processes. Those are big asks, meaning getting buy-in is rarely simple. Higher-ups who hold the purse strings will ask for full context and evidence of ROI before committing – and rightfully so. When seeking their buy-in, it’s important to guide your pitch around the direct and immediate benefits. How will your initiative help leadership do their jobs better? How will it make their reporting employees do their job better? How will important metrics shift as a result? This are the things decisionmakers within any organization need to know.

The bottom line is that, regulations or not, digital transformation is a mandatory move. The end-point customers don’t care what sort of compliance measures hold you back. Organizations working within regulated spaces need to find the necessary resources to comply with their unique requirements while also advancing the tools and processes into our modern era of tech.