The audit burden is accelerating, with 85% of executives reporting that compliance necessities have turn out to be extra complicated within the final three years, in line with PwC’s International Compliance Survey 2025.
The issue is that audit trails stay in a single system, retention insurance policies in one other, and entry controls in a 3rd. When these three safety pillars function in isolation, answering fundamental compliance questions turns into a time-consuming, error-prone analysis venture. The answer is a digital platform that brings all of it collectively.
Key takeaways
- Unified compliance platforms get rid of the inefficiencies that happen when audit trails, retention insurance policies, and RBAC methods function in separate silos
- IT groups ought to prioritize platforms with compliance engineered into their basis fairly than bolted on as afterthought options
- Vendor analysis requires greater than technical specs—search for companions who can have detailed compliance conversations and supply documentation on demand
These rules apply throughout industries, although particular necessities differ primarily based in your regulatory atmosphere and organizational wants.
Why built-in compliance issues for IT groups
Organizations attempting to navigate trade requirements usually face what compliance professionals describe as a “tangled mess” of overlapping mandates. Once they can management them by way of a unified system, they’ll straighten all of it out.
“Facility platforms that don’t combine with IT cybersecurity instruments make it troublesome to observe threats, implement entry controls, or reply to incidents in actual time. It additionally creates blind spots throughout audits, the place IT groups wrestle to provide full stories as a result of essential facility knowledge lives in separate silos” in line with Eptura’s “Safe methods for good buildings: FM/IT compliance coordination at authorities amenities.”
When an IT administrator assigns an worker entry to monetary data, the roll-based entry management (RBAC) system logs the task. Audit trails seize related entry with acceptable element. Retention insurance policies mechanically protect data in line with knowledge classification. When auditors ask, “Who had entry throughout Q3 2025?”, the system might help you reply rapidly.
Integration helps IT groups remedy the problem of audit trails missing authorization context. Safety groups investigating a breach can see “John accessed finance data on March 15,” however can’t confirm whether or not John had authorization that day. Complete audit trails imply you may seize person and administrative actions, permission adjustments, and knowledge exports for environment friendly evaluation throughout related methods.
So, the query isn’t whether or not these pillars matter. As a substitute, it’s whether or not your platform integrates them successfully or forces you to handle them individually.
What ought to IT search for in a compliance-ready platform?
Whenever you’re evaluating office platforms for compliance readiness, there are particular traits that separate options with compliance engineered into the inspiration from these with options merely bolted on. Understanding these variations helps you make knowledgeable selections within the choice course of.
Pre-certified environments and audit frameworks
ISO 27001 certification demonstrates systematic info safety administration, whereas the NIST Cybersecurity Framework alignment reveals the platform follows acknowledged finest practices.
When you want a FedRAMP Licensed answer, confirm the seller’s particular authorization, together with influence degree and repair boundary. GovCloud internet hosting alone is just not FedRAMP authorization, so make certain to validate any ITAR/CJIS claims and program scope.
Logging structure and integrity
Search for architectures that help complete audit trails for workspace, asset, and customer administration, for instance badge swipes, check-ins, position/permission adjustments, and knowledge exports. Verify with distributors whether or not tamper-evident controls and the way log retention and export are dealt with.
Retention capabilities
Automated retention coverage enforcement ought to work by way of intuitive guidelines making use of mechanically primarily based on knowledge classification. Additionally needless to say laws like GDPR and China’s knowledge localization legal guidelines mandate sure knowledge stay inside particular geographic boundaries. If knowledge residency is required, verify accessible areas and technical/contractual controls. When you require authorized maintain, verify whether or not the platform helps it; not all office platforms embody authorized maintain options.
RBAC depth and automation capabilities
Make sure the platform integrates together with your IdP, for instance SCIM / SSO, to help fast deprovisioning by way of your identification lifecycle processes.
In case your RBAC system requires handbook intervention, you danger the safety violation of permitting uncleared personnel to retain entry, which DCSA considers a severe deficiency throughout facility clearance critiques. Verify that is orchestrated by way of your identification governance/IAM processes and supported by the platform’s IdP integrations.
Integration capabilities and API high quality
Seamless integration together with your present safety instruments determines whether or not the platform turns into a central, built-in view of related knowledge or one other disconnected system.
Take a look at entry management system integrations. In office platforms, bodily safety integration issues. So, it is smart to ask if the platform connects together with your badge methods, RFID readers, or QR code scanners to assist correlate bodily entry occasions with related digital contexts the place supported?
Reporting and dashboard capabilities
Compliance reporting ought to generate audit-ready stories mapping on to regulatory necessities, not uncooked knowledge dumps requiring handbook formatting.
Take a look at dashboard customization for various stakeholders. Your IT directors want views displaying position assignments and permission distributions. Your compliance officers want stories on coverage violations and entry evaluation completion charges.
Your safety groups may have visibility into entry occasions and the power to export logs to a SIEM/IdP to observe anomalous patterns and authentication failures.
The best way to discover distributors who perceive compliance conversations
The technical specs matter, however so does your vendor’s capacity to have detailed compliance conversations. Whenever you’re evaluating platforms, you want distributors who can reply particular questions on their structure, present documentation on demand, and work together with your compliance group all through the procurement course of.
What good vendor workflows appear like
Good distributors have established compliance workflows. They preserve present audit stories, safety documentation, and compliance matrices available. Whenever you ask for his or her SOC 2 Kind II report, they ship it inside 24 hours. When it is advisable to perceive their knowledge retention structure, they schedule a technical deep dive with their safety architects. When your authorized group has questions on knowledge processing agreements, they’ve templates prepared and counsel accessible to barter.
What purple flags to look at for
Crimson flags seem when distributors can’t reply fundamental questions. In the event that they promise to “get again to you” on whether or not logs are immutable or how retention insurance policies work, that’s a warning signal the options could also be an afterthought fairly than foundational capabilities. If they’ll’t produce present audit stories or clarify their certification scope, you’re a compliance hole ready to occur.
What collaborative analysis requires
The analysis course of ought to really feel collaborative, not evasive. Schedule technical classes the place your group can ask detailed questions: “Stroll me by way of precisely what occurs after we set off a authorized maintain.” “Present me what the audit logs appear like for a permission change.” “Clarify how your platform handles knowledge residency for our EU subsidiary.” Distributors with mature compliance packages welcome these conversations as a result of they’ve had them lots of of instances earlier than.
See how actual organizations strengthen compliance at scale
Throughout each regulated trade, IT and operations groups are underneath strain to show—not simply declare—that their controls, documentation, and audit‑readiness can stand up to scrutiny. And whereas the appropriate platform structure makes that doable, generally probably the most compelling proof comes from organizations which have already taken the journey.
Gasoline Area Specialists, Inc. (GFS), working a big fleet of closely regulated tools throughout the oil and gasoline sector, confronted mounting compliance calls for that their previous processes merely couldn’t help. Their groups have been juggling hundreds of inspections, certifications, and upkeep occasions with restricted visibility and inconsistent documentation—situations that raised the danger of missed necessities and expensive penalties.
By transitioning to a unified Eptura-powered method, GFS reengineered its compliance workflow from the bottom up.
They moved from a patchwork of handbook schedules and disconnected data to a centralized system able to managing excessive‑frequency inspections, sustaining detailed histories, and producing dependable audit trails for each asset all the way down to the smallest parts. That shift not solely tightened operational self-discipline but in addition gave management confidence that compliance processes have been lastly aligned with regulatory expectations.
Learn the way GFS remodeled its compliance operations and achieved really audit‑prepared documentation for hundreds of belongings by passing inspections with out surprises.
Incessantly requested questions
By Jonathan Davis
As a content material creator at Eptura, Jonathan Davis covers asset administration, upkeep software program, and SaaS options, delivering thought management with actionable insights throughout industries comparable to fleet, manufacturing, healthcare, and hospitality. Jonathan’s writing focuses on subjects to assist enterprises optimize their operations, together with constructing lifecycle administration, digital twins, BIM for facility administration, and preventive and predictive upkeep methods. With a grasp’s diploma in journalism and a various background that features writing textbooks, enhancing online game dialogue, and educating English as a international language, Jonathan brings a flexible perspective to his content material creation.
