CEP Magazine - March 2021

Compare platforms

When should you pick a platform? Don’t decide on a particular platform or tool too early in the evaluation process. You should evaluate your must-haves and nice-to-haves prior to getting demonstrations from vendors or internal information technology (IT) teams. If you see a particular tool too early in the process, you might get stuck on that as a solution and end up compromising on some of your must-haves.

How mobile are your users? If they travel extensively or work from home, you might want a mobile app in addition to a desktop app or as a solitary solution.

Do all your users have computer access? Many companies have large portions of their workforce that do not have access to a computer. If this is your situation, deploying a desktop-based app would not reach all your users.

Where do employees already go for information? Your company might have a companywide app or site that users already visit frequently. If so, you could try to add your content to the existing location instead of building a standalone app.

What data are stored by the app, and where are they stored? If your app is gathering any information when a user logs in, you will need to discuss this with your data privacy expert. Additionally, the storage location will have an impact on the speed at which the app responds and ongoing data charges.

Is the platform flexible enough to allow for frequent changes? Some platforms will allow the compliance team to make quick edits to content while other platforms will require the vendor or IT team to make changes. Consider how often you plan to make changes and what the ongoing charges for content updates will be.

Compare functionality

Should you incorporate search functionality? Keep in mind that your users will use different terms than you do. For example, for “anything of value,” users may search for “hospitality,” “entertainment,” “gifts,” “meals,” “dinner,” or “tickets.” More advanced solutions can provide artificial intelligence that applies this fuzzy logic for you, while more basic solutions will require you to provide lists of alternative terms. You might also want the search functionality to start filling out the possible search terms for the users as they type.

Do you need a glossary for frequently used terms? Your users might not be familiar with the terms you use in compliance. Consider adding defined terms in a glossary or letting users hover over a term to get the definition. For example, users will be more likely to follow your policy on providing cash equivalents if they can see on the screen what a cash equivalent is.

How will users interact with the solution? Options will range from having a set Q&A menu to having a chatbot with natural language processing (NLP) that allows users to ask a question and receive suggested relevant answers. Users enjoy employing NLP in everyday internet search tools, but getting an NLP-powered search to work reliably on your company’s policies and procedures will depend on the technology used and how your base documents are written.

Can you push alerts to users? Many mobile apps push notifications to users when there is an important update. Consider how you could use this functionality in a compliance team setting. For example, you might want the app to send an alert about a policy change or to remind users about a gift policy a few weeks before a local holiday.

Can you brand the app? You might want the app to use your company’s logo and colors. You also might want it to have a custom name or avatar.

Can you use gamification or badging? Think about the apps you use that keep you coming back. They often offer an incentive, even if it’s just unlocking a badge for your badge collection without any related monetary benefit. Your compliance app could include badges for reviewing a certain number of topics, asking questions in different time periods, reviewing a specific topic during a push campaign, or suggesting content to the compliance team.

What content will you include?

What content do your users need and value? Content is what your users are coming to the app for. You will need to gather extensive knowledge from your customers to find out what they want to see in the solution. They might surprise you with content that your department doesn’t specifically handle but that they would expect to see in the app.

Are there other departments you can partner with to add additional content? Users might expect to see travel policies, expense reimbursement guidelines, human resource guidance, or other common employee questions answered in your tool. They want the answers regardless of which department handles the query. After getting feedback from your customers on what they want to see, reach out to other departments to see if you can collaborate with them.

What questions are clear enough that you can provide an answer in the app? The number of Q&A sets that can be added to the app is a function of your existing policies and procedures. If yours is a global company, consider whether the answers will depend on location or function. If so, you might need additional functionality to allow users to select a region or function on some answers.

Which questions are complicated enough that you will need to direct users to the compliance department or another resource? Try to anticipate these questions by gathering Q&A from your customers during the discovery phase, and make sure to direct users to a resource or contact screen instead of a generic “answer not found” screen.

How can you best organize the content? The content probably will not be organized in the way your compliance team thinks. Compliance professionals might try to arrange the information by topic areas such as “Antitrust” or “Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.” But your general user might naturally search for the same content using other terms or categories, such as “gift policy,” “trade shows,” or “doing market research.”

Should you start with targeted information or a broad content catalog? It can be tempting to start with one topic and expand the content if the app is broadly adopted. However, if users log in for the first time and don’t find the topic they want, they might never return. It can also be tempting to hold up the whole project until you have content on every topic imaginable, increasing the cost and time needed to deploy. Carefully consider the tradeoffs of how much content you include in your first deployment.

Will your content need to be translated? You probably will improve user adoption and understanding if the content and interface are available in users’ native languages.

Consider training and documentation needs

Should you create user instructions or documentation? You most likely will want to launch the solution without having to create extensive instructions or documentation for users. Consider the last app you downloaded to your mobile phone. Did you have to download a 10-page guide on how to use it? Did you need to watch a five-minute video of someone else using the app first? Probably not. Your users are tech savvy and used to getting solutions that are easy to use. If you want them to use your solution the first time and keep coming back, make it simple. Your vendor or IT team can advise on the use of standard icons and design elements that will reduce or eliminate the need for instructions.

Will having instructions or documentation slow down future iterations? If you anticipate frequent updates to your app, consider that limiting or eliminating user documentation will save you from updating static documents every time the app is changed.

What format is best for the instructions or documentation? Again, talk to your customers before you decide. Do they prefer video instructions or written guides? Would an optional on-screen tutorial that highlights key sections of the app be helpful?

Invite employee feedback for a smooth operation

While the considerations for your company will vary from those outlined above, most compliance teams will find increased success with their project by getting frequent input from employees outside of compliance. Involve them before, during, and after the deployment, and make sure your users easily can suggest new content or changes from the app. You can be well on your way to a successful implementation and to freeing up time for your compliance team to focus on value-added tasks and initiatives.

Takeaways

• Implement technology solutions to put answers in customers’ hands, freeing up time for more value-added activities.

• Draft up a list of must-haves and nice-to-haves before getting technology demos.

• Consider the user at every step of the process, including what content to include, how to organize it, and how to deploy it.

• Encourage users to keep coming back with content and functionality.

• Resist the temptation to create lengthy training and user documentation. Instead, make the app intuitive to use.