IT Compliance | Practically and effectively

IT compliance has become very important. Information Technology (IT) is probably ubiquitous in your organisation, and you probably depend on it. IT has enabled us all to do great things. However, when using it, we must comply with applicable laws. Ensuring your organisation complies with IT laws, rules, codes, and standards (including POPI) can feel daunting and overwhelming. IT laws deal with intangible concepts (such as data messages) and require knowledge of both the law and information and communication technology (ICT). If you feel overwhelmed, you are not alone.

We have been helping organisations with IT compliance for over fifteen years. We have developed a strong offering that helps you comply effectively and practically. Many organisations use our offering to complement their existing compliance activities (which are usually significant). Our offering is made up of parts:

1. A List of IT Laws, which ensures you are aware of all the legal and regulatory requirements related to IT.
2. An IT Legal Framework, which helps you to apply the law to your specific organisation in a practical way, following a risk-based approach.
3. A practical workshop on IT GRC. We offer private workshops at your venue, specifically for attendees from your organisation, as well as public workshops. It will help you determine what is relevant to your industry and organisation and fast-track your efforts.
4. An IT Legal Compliance assessment, gap analysis, or audit or review where we check your compliance with particular laws.
5. A Compliance Action Plan, which contains what the specific organisation has done or is going to do to comply with IT Laws.

We often offer these together for one fee, but we also offer them separately so you can choose the approach that suits you. Some people just want the workshop, others just the framework or list.

IT Law Subscription

We also offer the list and the framework by subscription (monthly or annual), which includes updates and discounts on workshops and publications. Email us to ask for a quote.

How they fit together

IT compliance has become codified in the IT Governance chapter in King III. King III says that companies “must comply with all applicable laws”. When considering such compliance, “the board should ensure that all IT related laws, rules, codes and standards are considered”. Many of our clients don’t know what these “applicable…IT related laws, rules, codes and standards” are. So we have put together the List of IT laws to tell you what they are.

Once you have these laws, what do you do next? We developed an IT Legal Framework to help organisations apply IT GRC in practical ways to real issues and comply with IT laws. We use it as a control tool for the various IT legal audits we conduct, and we recently made it available to clients who want to use it themselves. Our clients often use it alongside a Compliance Action Plan.

The IT GRC workshop is a key element because this is where we apply our knowledge and experience to your specific circumstances. This is where we:

• Do a high-level assessment of your organisation.
• Help you to work out which IT laws, rules, codes, or standards are relevant to you.
• Help you to identify your significant issues.
• Help you to evaluate and assess compliance with external legal and regulatory requirements related to IT.
• Explain the List of IT Laws and IT Legal Framework and help you to determine the relevance of them to your organisation.
• Demonstrate how to use the documents.
• Create an awareness of the legal aspects of IT GRC.
• Transfer skills and knowledge to your organisation so that you can use the List of IT Laws and IT Legal Framework.

Larger organisations often want us (as an independent external professional legal adviser) to conduct a compliance audit in addition to the workshop.

Benefits of our approach to IT compliance

• Reduce your legal risk profile.
• Demonstrate the application of the King Code and COBIT.
• Implement current best practice.
• Manage the risks of non-compliance.
• Avoid legal problems, difficulties, and disputes.
• Keep your board informed of relevant IT laws, rules, codes and standards.

How do we help you with IT Compliance?

1. Identify what IT laws, codes, standards, and best practices are relevant to you.
2. Determine their impact on you.
3. Fast-track your compliance efforts.
4. Gain clarity on your current position and where you need to be.
5. Help you find solutions to fill gaps, including which solutions you need.
6. Prioritise your next steps.