Redefining Compliance Risk Management From Siloed Costs to Strategic Value

According to a Navex article by Kyle Martin, compliance professionals should reconsider how siloed structures inflate both cost and risk exposure. The article presents a five-step approach to fusing compliance and risk into a single, proactive framework. Rather than treating compliance as a static audit function and risk as a list of hypotheticals, Martin advocates for real-time compliance risk management integration that connects daily operations to potential consequences.

The first step is a blunt-force risk assessment that maps each compliance obligation, such as anti-bribery laws, to specific business processes that could fail. This sharpens visibility into operational vulnerabilities. From there, the compliance framework must become a living system, embedded in workflows and clearly assigning responsibility by role. Static policies are insufficient; the framework must adapt to regulatory and business changes.

Technology is central to the third step: continuous, focused monitoring. Rather than conducting post-mortem audits, modern systems flag anomalies, like unauthorized system access or uncertified vendors, in real time. These live signals feed into a centralized risk model, breaking down silos between compliance and functions like HR or finance. For example, whistleblower trends can now inform employee risk assessments before broader issues emerge.

Finally, Martin emphasizes fixing processes, not just incidents. Each compliance failure should trigger process-level scrutiny, whether it’s flawed incentives or bad information, and demonstrate measurable business impact. This reframing positions compliance not as overhead, but as a strategic capability.