Your security and compliance glossary

All the terms you need to know when you’re trying to get compliance audit ready, fast.

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What is compliance software?

Compliance software describes the software tools an organization employs to monitor its internal systems and controls, in order to comply with required standards and regulations. Compliance software integrates with an organization’s compliance risk management strategy to provide continuous tracking, monitoring, and tools for review of the organization’s compliance with relevant rules and regulations, in addition to the standards and expectations of its customers.

Compliance software can streamline the process of becoming and staying compliant with required regulations — and its continuous monitoring can support the improvement of an organization’s overall security posture.

What features does compliance software include?

Every compliance management software tool is unique in its specialty and features, but there are certain features you can expect to see in most of these tools and apps. The most common features you can expect in compliance review software include:

  • Compliance tracking and alerts - Monitor business operations and protocols to ensure that they comply with your necessary standards and alert appropriate personnel of any action items.
  • Audit management - Plan, complete, and track audits to ensure you never miss a compliance-necessary system audit.
  • Risk management - Assess your risk level and security gaps to mitigate future risks.
  • Incident management - Identify potential breaches, system failures, and service disruptions and carry out a planned response to minimize risks and fortify your security.
  • Process automation - Design custom workflows for ongoing compliance tasks.
  • Compliance reporting - Preparing detailed reports verifying your compliance with the necessary security standards to use as documentation.
  • Version control - Track updates to security tools and documents to ensure proper updates are installed.

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Business benefits of using compliance software

Why should your business be using compliance maintenance software? This specialized type of tool offers a variety of benefits for your business and its bottom line:

  • Reduced legal risks - Complying with certain security protocols is a critical legal concern for businesses; most notably, healthcare businesses’s need to comply with HIPAA regulations. Compliance review software assists in ensuring you remain compliant and providing you with documentation of your compliance.
  • Heightened customer trust and buy-in - Security protocols and standards give customers confidence in your business’s safety and make you a low-risk choice, making you a more desirable option for potential and existing customers.
  • More efficient decision-making - Compliance software provides comprehensive information about security protocols and a compliance checklist of necessary action items in one streamlined platform, allowing leadership to make more informed decisions about productive steps to take.
  • Reduced resources for compliance monitoring - Compliance monitoring software automates your compliance tracking and evaluation, saving resources by reducing the need to manually monitor your systems.

Additional resources you might like:

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AI and Trust: Navigating Maturity, Influence, and Risk

Join Ashish Rajan, CISO at Kaizenteq, and Faisal Khan, GRC Subject Matter Expert at Vanta for a tactical conversation on what it really takes to mature compliance, risk, and trust in the age of AI

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The ultimate guide to FedRAMP: A requirements guide for authorization

Learn about FedRAMP authorization, from impact levels to compliance steps, to unlock opportunities with U.S. federal agencies.

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Secure from the Start: How Founders Build Compliance Into Early-Stage Growth

Hear from the Head of Information Security at Robin AI and the Co-Founder & CEO of Pavlov as they share how they embedded security and compliance into their startup journey, without slowing down innovation.

Additional resources you might like:

GRC
Events
AI and Trust: Navigating Maturity, Influence, and Risk

Join Ashish Rajan, CISO at Kaizenteq, and Faisal Khan, GRC Subject Matter Expert at Vanta for a tactical conversation on what it really takes to mature compliance, risk, and trust in the age of AI

Compliance
Guide / Report
The ultimate guide to FedRAMP: A requirements guide for authorization

Learn about FedRAMP authorization, from impact levels to compliance steps, to unlock opportunities with U.S. federal agencies.

Compliance
Events
Secure from the Start: How Founders Build Compliance Into Early-Stage Growth

Hear from the Head of Information Security at Robin AI and the Co-Founder & CEO of Pavlov as they share how they embedded security and compliance into their startup journey, without slowing down innovation.

Compliance
Events
Building Trust in the AI Boom: Security, Capital, and Credibility from Day One

Join the CFOs of Vanta and Mercury for a tactical conversation on how early-stage teams can build trust with investors and buyers, without slowing down.

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Live Demo: Accelerate security and compliance workflows with AI

Join us for a live demo where we’ll walk you through the AI functionality within the Vanta platform and how it can simplify your compliance process. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to ask live questions—whether it’s about AI specifically, compliance, or how to get started with Vanta.

Product updates
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AI-Powered Risk Management

Watch on-demand to see our new AI-driven features that help you reduce manual work, flag gaps in evidence, and streamline workflows with Slack integrations and continuous monitoring.

Vendor Risk Management
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Live Demo: Navigating Third-Party Risk Through Vanta’s Vendor Risk Management

Watch on-demand for a live demo that showcases Vanta’s Vendor Risk Management solution. Well share how we can help automate and streamline security reviews so that you can spend less time on repetitive work and more time strengthening your security posture.

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Product Demo: Automating Compliance for ISO 27001, GDPR and more with Vanta

Watch on-demand to explore how Vanta's automation can streamline your compliance efforts and save you time and money - all while helping you build customer trust.

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Live-Produktdemo: ISO 27001- und SOC 2-Compliance mit Vanta einfach umsetzen

Der Nachweis von Compliance mit einem Sicherheitsrahmensystem wie ISO 27001 oder SOC 2 ist nicht nur für den Ausbau Ihres Unternehmens und die Beschaffung von Kapital unverzichtbar, sondern schafft auch die so wichtige Vertrauensbasis.