9 Common Compliance Issues and How to Overcome Them

According to PwC’s Global Risk Survey 2023, 40% of surveyed business and risk leaders reported improving their organization’s approach to risk in the last year to strengthen compliance with regulatory standards. Among the top-performing 5% of organizations, this figure skyrocketed to 81%.

But what’s driving this significant leap?

The solution resides in clearly recognizing and effectively managing the most threatening obstacles. Some compliance issues include inconsistency in processes, inaccessibility of information, and the inability to adapt to changing compliance regulations. 

These challenges can negatively impact operational effectiveness, enhance the potential risk of fines and penalties, and erode an organization’s image.

Compliant organizations go a step further and not only address compliance but also examine the strategy’s symptoms.

For most businesses, the question is not why an effective compliance program is important but rather how to deal with the problems that appear. 

Therefore, what are the typical compliance challenges that organizations encounter? What can companies do to transform from struggling with compliance to compliant and confident? 

Let’s look at the 9 most common compliance issues and their solutions.

What exactly are compliance issues?

Compliance issues include any scenario where an organization or business owner fails to meet legal, regulatory, industry, or internal policy standards. These range from minor oversights to significant violations that could lead to hefty fines, reputational damage, or criminal charges.

Some compliance issue examples include:

1. Lack of awareness of regulatory changes can cause organizations to miss important updates and fall out of compliance.
2. Inadequate training leaves employees unaware of security protocols, increasing the risk of mistakes.
3. Data privacy and security lapses expose sensitive information and can result in hefty fines.
4. Inconsistent documentation makes it difficult to prove compliance during audits.
5. Insufficient internal audits can allow compliance gaps to go unnoticed for too long.
6. Vendor non-compliance can put your company at risk if third-party providers don’t meet regulatory standards.
7. Over-reliance on manual processes leads to inefficiencies and increases the chance of human error.
8. Inadequate risk management frameworks mean organizations aren’t prepared for potential threats.
9. Weak incident response plans leave companies struggling to manage security breaches or compliance failures.

Now, let’s take a deep dive into companies’ top 9 compliance issues.

9 common compliance issues and how to overcome them

Compliance issues result in breaches of laws, regulations, or internal policies. Such violations can significantly impact an organization’s reputation, operational capacity, and ability to conduct business effectively. 

In severe cases, non-compliance may result in substantial legal fines, penalties, or operational shutdowns.

Outlined below are the top 9 compliance issues organizations frequently encounter:

1. Lack of awareness of regulatory changes

Regulations are evolving faster than ever, and keeping up isn’t just a challenge; it’s a necessity. But with the endless stream of updates, how do you know which ones apply to your business? And more importantly, how do you ensure you don’t miss something critical?

Take the EU’s recently introduced NIS2 compliance framework as a case in point. A shocking 20% of UK companies admitted they didn’t even realize they needed to comply. Think about that momentarily. Nearly a quarter of businesses were exposed to potential fines or worse simply because they weren’t aware.

How to overcome a lack of awareness

According to recent studies, 43% of Chief Ethics and Compliance Officers (CCOs) identify new regulatory requirements as their most significant compliance challenge. 

To address this, 45% of CCOs prioritize industry-specific regulatory compliance efforts. The focus is increasingly shifting toward automating regulatory mapping and change management, two critical areas projected to dominate compliance standards in the next two years.

The risk you can’t ignore

Missing a regulatory update isn’t just a “woops” moment—it’s a business risk. Non-compliance can lead to penalties, disrupted operations, or even reputational damage that’s hard to recover from. So, let’s break it down:

• How confident are you that your organization knows about the latest regulations?
• Do you have a process to act on them effectively?
• And if you don’t, what’s your backup plan?

There are steps you can take right now to ensure you’re not caught off guard:

• Invest in automation tools: Use compliance platforms like Sprinto to simplify regulatory mapping. Automation ensures you’re always in the loop with relevant updates, significantly reducing manual effort.
• Subscribe to trusted newsletters: Regulatory updates don’t have to be overwhelming. Sprinto’s newsletter offers curated, industry-specific insights, ensuring you stay ahead of changes without spending hours sifting through information. 

Sign up to Sprinto’s newsletter for the latest updates, in-depth insights, and event invites delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now.

• Designate compliance champions: Identify individuals or teams responsible for monitoring regulatory changes and assessing their impact on your organization.
• Leverage industry networks: Collaborate with peers, industry groups, and professional forums to exchange insights about evolving regulations.
• Conduct regular impact assessments: Evaluate how new regulations affect your operations and plan implementation strategies accordingly.

2. Inadequate training

When safeguarding your organization, one often overlooked element is employee training. Your team is your first line of defense against cyber threats. Yet, many companies fail to equip their employees with the knowledge and skills to navigate today’s security landscape.

And the consequences? They’re not just theoretical. Failing to provide adequate training can lead to:

• Data breaches that expose sensitive customer or company information.
• Legal liabilities that drain resources through fines and lawsuits.
• Reputational damage that’s difficult, if not impossible, to rebuild.
• Productivity loss as employees scramble to recover from incidents.

Cybersecurity training is a compliance mandate for many regulatory frameworks. Agencies like GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO 27001 explicitly require regular training in security policies and data protection areas. 

Ignoring these requirements could lead to fines, sanctions, and other penalties that impact your bottom line.

How to overcome inadequate training

Inadequate training often stems from a misconception: disseminating it as a one-off exercise rather than as an ongoing procedure. Targeted threats change over time, and so should your team’s awareness of how to combat them effectively. 

Training also eliminates the gap between course, policy, and practice, making your organization secure and ready for audit.

Create a culture of security awareness

Security must be shifted from a mandate of a few individuals’ responsibility to a culture everyone embraces. Occasionally disseminating information about new threats and encouraging the staff to recognize and prevent potential hazards will be effective.

Focus on role-based training

However, awareness does not have to be a pitch for being a cybersecurity expert; it should be carried out based on the employees’ positions. 

For example, your IT department may engage in more technical aspects, such as identifying technical controls. In contrast, other employees may just learn about phishing attacks and the use of strong passwords.

Make training continuous and engaging

Replace long and traditional yearly training with fun and engaging microlearning sessions. Use simulations such as phishing to give employees a feel for real-life events.

Be very clear in outlining your training modules to the different regulatory requirements. For example:

• GDPR: Data privacy and handling with special reference to issues of current concern.
• HIPAA: Keeping patient health information confidential in the healthcare industry.
• ISO 27001: Create security policies and encourage awareness.

Instead of using the number of password resets or the time taken to respond to different simulations, use values like the decrease in the frequency of phishing click-throughs. Teach modules in the current setting. 

However, it is important to update them periodically depending on the feedback received and changing threats.

The Sprinto advantage

With built-in cybersecurity training modules and the ability to launch custom training campaigns on demand, Sprinto transforms what could be a chaotic process into an effortless and streamlined experience.

Sprinto’s training tools enable companies to design and implement compliance-aligned programs that actively engage teams, making alignment across the organization achievable and easy. 

If your business already has training frameworks, Sprinto’s integrations with leading training providers take things to the next level by centralizing tracking and enhancing campaign participation.

Here’s how Sprinto simplifies your training efforts:

• Real-time tracking: Monitor training completion as it happens, ensuring no one falls through the cracks.
• Automated alerts: Never miss a control check; Sprinto informs you with timely reminders.
• Effortless evidence collection: Sprinto automatically captures and organizes compliance evidence, so you’re always audit-ready.

See how Sprinto helped Giift ensure security training.

3. Data privacy and security lapses

Organizations often collect and maintain personal data to deliver better services, personalized experiences, or enhanced customer engagement. However, this must be done transparently, with clear communication about data usage and explicit consent from individuals. 

Failure to balance these priorities can lead to violations of federal regulations like GDPR, CCPA, or HIPAA, which can result in fines and reputational damage.

Many businesses also rely on third-party vendors or service providers to streamline operations. While this extends capabilities, it also introduces common compliance risks. 

Third-party data sharing amplifies exposure to privacy lapses, as any breach at their end can compromise sensitive data. This underscores the importance of vetting vendors for cybersecurity standards and ensuring they comply with strict data protection protocols.

How to overcome data privacy and security lapses

• Invest in robust cybersecurity measures: Implement advanced threat detection, data encryption, and access controls to prevent unauthorized data access.
• Embrace privacy-first practices: Adopt clear, transparent data collection policies and seek informed consent for all data usage.
• Third-party due diligence: Regularly assess the cybersecurity posture of your vendors, ensuring they meet or exceed your organization’s security standards.
• Implement ongoing monitoring: Leverage tools to continuously monitor your data environment and identify and address vulnerabilities proactively.

4. Inconsistent documentation

There’s a well-known adage in compliance circles: “If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen.” And for compliance auditors, this couldn’t be more accurate. Documentation is the cornerstone of proving adherence to standards, demonstrating that your organization has established procedures and follows them consistently. 

While verbal assurances might sound convincing, they don’t hold up in an audit. Only clear, precise records can substantiate compliance.

The problem arises when documentation is inconsistent, procedures, records, or data points don’t align or lack integrity. This creates confusion, weakens compliance efforts, and introduces risks. 

Discrepancies between documented processes and their actual execution can lead to faulty operations, product defects, and, in extreme cases, outcomes that put lives at risk.

Inconsistent documentation undermines trust in your systems and processes. Compliance records must align with each other and with real-world operations. 

Dates, times, and details must be contemporaneously documented and accurate to ensure data integrity. Without this, inconsistencies creep into your workflows, resulting in inefficiencies, errors, and, ultimately, non-compliance.

How to overcome inconsistent documentation

• Develop clear guidelines for documentation, including templates and formatting standards.
• Ensure consistency in how data is recorded across departments and processes.
• Implement version control systems to track updates and prevent discrepancies.
• Educate employees on the importance of accurate documentation and how it impacts compliance.
• Periodically review your documentation for completeness and alignment with operational practices.
• Address inconsistencies proactively before they become audit red flags.

Subscribe to get expert insights straight to your inbox.

5. Insufficient internal audits

It’s human nature to view ourselves and others in the best possible light. In a business context, this optimism can lead to blind spots during internal assessments, where critical shortcomings are inadvertently overlooked. 

Unfortunately, when these gaps remain undetected, they can become stumbling blocks during external audits, often resulting in unfavorable findings or compliance failures.

A poorly designed or insufficient internal audit process is a common pitfall for organizations undergoing their first external audit. 

Without robust mechanisms to catch and address compliance gaps early, businesses risk falling short of regulatory expectations, leading to penalties, reputational damage, or operational delays.

How to overcome insufficient internal audits

• Create a dedicated internal audit team that operates independently of your security and IT teams.
• Ensure auditors have a separate reporting structure to maintain objectivity and avoid conflicts of interest.
• Bring in external consultants or assessors who are not implementing your controls. Their fresh perspective can help identify issues that internal teams may overlook.
• Use tools like Sprinto to streamline compliance monitoring, making tracking control implementation and evidence collection easier. Automated alerts and real-time dashboards help you proactively address issues before external auditors step in.

6. Vendor non-compliance

Vendor non-compliance is a ticking time bomb that can cause delays, inflate costs, and tarnish the reputation of the vendor and your organization. 

When a vendor fails to adhere to compliance requirements, the ripple effects can compromise business continuity and customer trust.

Vendor security risks, in particular, are a significant concern. These risks arise when external suppliers, service providers, or vendors gain access to your systems, data, or networks. Without stringent compliance measures, this access can introduce vulnerabilities, leading to:

• Data breaches: Exposure of sensitive or regulated data to unauthorized parties.
• Unauthorized access: Vendors with improper security protocols can create entry points for cyberattacks.
• Confidential information compromise: Loss or misuse of sensitive information can result in legal and financial repercussions.

This is what Jeffrey Wheatman, Cyber Risk Evangelist, has to say about vendor risks:

How to overcome vendor non-compliance

• Define the specific compliance standards vendors must meet before onboarding. Incorporate these requirements into contracts, leaving no room for ambiguity.
• Assess the vendor’s compliance posture during the selection process.
• Grant vendors only the access they need to perform tasks, minimizing exposure to critical systems.
• Encourage open communication with vendors about compliance expectations and updates.

7. Over-reliance on manual processes

Let’s be honest: managing GRC with spreadsheets and email chains might feel like a familiar comfort zone, but it comes with its own set of risks. Sure, it technically works, but it’s slow, error-prone, and far from ideal in the current situation Some of the reasons are:

• Human error is inevitable: We’re only human, meaning mistakes happen. In a manual system, even a small slip, like entering a wrong figure or missing a deadline, can spiral into compliance violations, hefty fines, or even legal trouble.
• Time is your biggest casualty: Manual processes can feel like swimming through molasses. Routine tasks like updating policies or tracking risk assessments consume hours, which could be better spent on strategy or innovation.
• Growth becomes a nightmare: Is your company thriving? Great! But manual processes won’t keep up. As operations expand, so do risks and compliance obligations, and a manual system will buckle under the pressure.
• Collaboration turns into chaos: GRC requires input from multiple teams, but miscommunication and inefficiencies are almost guaranteed if everyone’s working off disconnected spreadsheets or endless email threads.

How to overcome overreliance on manual processes

• Embrace automation. It handles repetitive tasks like clockwork, reduces errors, and ensures you never miss a step. Tools like Sprinto make this transition seamless, turning compliance chaos into an organized dream.
• Centralize everything. A single source of truth changes the game. This will help have all your compliance tasks, deadlines, and evidence in one platform. 
• Let automation handle boring stuff, like reminders and tracking. This will free your team to focus on higher-value activities, like strengthening policies or identifying strategic risks.

8. Inadequate risk management frameworks

Managing cybersecurity risks is an ongoing process that involves identifying, evaluating, and addressing threats across the organization. 

Sounds straightforward, right? Not quite. 

One of the biggest challenges is how businesses often approach this—through fragmented efforts that fail to provide a comprehensive view of risks. It’s not a one-person job at all. 

Everyone—from employees on the front lines to department heads—has a role to play. Unfortunately, this often results in siloed thinking. Each team tends to focus only on the risks within its own domain. 

While finance might worry about fraud, HR might prioritize data privacy, and IT zeroes in on system vulnerabilities, nobody is looking at the bigger picture.

But why does this matter?

• Siloed efforts lead to blind spots: When teams work in isolation, critical risks can slip through the cracks. For example, an unpatched vulnerability in IT could expose sensitive HR data, but without collaboration, the connection might go unnoticed until it’s too late.
• Lack of consistency across departments: Different teams often assess and prioritize risks differently. What’s seen as a high-priority issue in one department might not even make the radar in another, leading to misaligned efforts and wasted resources.
• Fragmented responses to threats: Without a unified approach, responses to cybersecurity incidents can be inconsistent and disjointed. This increases recovery time and can also amplify the threat’s impact.

How to overcome inadequate risk management

• Risk management works best when it’s embedded in your company’s DNA. Every team must understand how their actions influence broader cybersecurity efforts and align with overall risk management goals.
• A centralized risk management framework ensures that threats are assessed and addressed consistently. It provides clarity, reduces overlap, and ensures no critical risks are overlooked.
• Automation tools can help consolidate risk data across the organization and provide real-time insights. Platforms like Sprinto enable you to centralize risk tracking and management, making it easier to spot and address vulnerabilities proactively.

Now, let’s talk about how you can ensure best-in-class risk management practices without breaking a sweat.

The Sprinto Advantage

Sprinto gives you the tools to identify risks and truly understand their impact on your organization. You will have an X-ray vision for cybersecurity threats—backed by trusted industry benchmarks. 

See this video for more information:

With Sprinto, you can prioritize risks smarter, confidently tackle them, and manage everything systematically.

Here’s how Sprinto takes the guesswork out of risk management:

• A Risk Library That Covers It All: Sprinto’s extensive risk library helps you map out potential vulnerabilities across every corner of your business.
• Customization That Matches Your Reality: Got unique risks that don’t fit into cookie-cutter templates? No problem. Add custom risks, assign impact scores, and build a tailored risk register reflecting your challenges.
• Real-Time Updates as You Scale: As your business grows and evolves, so do your risks. Sprinto ensures your risk data stays actionable and relevant by letting you update your register seamlessly.

9. Weak incident response plans

A poorly crafted incident response (IR) plan can spell disaster for any organization. You might have seen cases where inadequate planning allowed cyberattacks to spiral out of control, causing extensive damage and astronomical costs.

The lesson is that incident response isn’t something you figure out on the fly. It kicks in the moment you detect an attack or breach, and its effectiveness can mean the difference between containing a threat or letting it wreak havoc.

However, not all breaches start with a direct hit to your servers or databases. In fact, many attacks originate at the employee level—on a workstation or through phishing, and then escalate toward more critical systems. This progression makes having a well-defined IR plan crucial to stopping threats before they snowball.

How to overcome weak incident response plans

• Define clear roles and responsibilities for every team member involved in handling incidents. Establish step-by-step procedures for detecting, analyzing, containing, eradicating, and recovering from threats.
• Conduct tabletop exercises and simulated attacks to test your IR plan. Use these drills to identify weaknesses, refine processes, and improve team coordination.
• Deploy tools like IPS, EDR, and SIEM to automate threat detection, containment, and alerting. Integrate monitoring systems that provide real-time visibility into your network and assets.

Resolve your compliance issues with Sprinto

We’ve explored common pitfalls—such as inconsistent documentation, inadequate training, and over-reliance on manual processes—and uncovered their costly consequences, such as data breaches, reputational damage, and inefficiencies. 

Yet, these challenges aren’t insurmountable. With the right approach, organizations can turn these hurdles into opportunities for growth and security.

This journey isn’t one you have to take alone. Sprinto offers a comprehensive suite of tools to simplify and supercharge your compliance efforts. Whether it’s:

• Staying on top of regulatory updates with actionable insights,
• Conducting internal audits with precision,
• Launching organization-wide cybersecurity training or
• Centralizing your risk management processes,

Sprinto empowers your team with clarity, efficiency, and confidence. It ensures you maintain control, reduce over-reliance on vendors, and remain audit-ready no matter how fast your business evolves.

So, the question isn’t whether you can overcome these challenges; it’s when you’ll start turning them into your organization’s greatest strengths. 

Let Sprinto help you take that step. Speak to an expert today.

FAQs

What are the most common compliance issues businesses face?

The most common compliance issues include staying updated with regulatory changes, inadequate employee training, inconsistent documentation, weak incident response plans, over-reliance on manual processes, and vendor non-compliance. 

Each of these can create vulnerabilities, increase risks, and lead to financial or reputational damage if not addressed proactively.

Why is vendor compliance often overlooked?

Vendor compliance is tricky because businesses assume external partners meet necessary standards. However, a breach at a vendor’s end can affect your organization too. 

How does insufficient documentation derail compliance efforts?

Without consistent and accurate documentation, proving compliance during audits becomes nearly impossible. Maintaining a well-organized and regularly updated record ensures transparency and makes audit processes smoother, reducing the risk of penalties.