“It wasn’t in the compliance training materials.”
That’s a phrase most compliance officers don’t want to hear from their colleagues or employees, especially if something they did triggered an investigation or lawsuit. Hearing something like that should raise tons of red flags, not only from a legal perspective, but also from a training viewpoint. It potentially indicates that the compliance department either failed to convey crucial information in their compliance training, or worse, failed to include it in the materials altogether.
Ensuring that compliance training materials and programs cover everything they need to is just the first step towards producing effective compliant behaviors. This is par for the course (pun intended). Incomplete or inaccurate training materials is a huge liability, exposing organizations to a significant level of risk.
When it comes to purchasing and implementing compliance courses, organizations can choose either off the shelf or customized materials. Which one a company chooses can have a huge impact on a firm’s risk management strategy. Let’s take a look at the two options to see which one offers the best protection.
Off the Shelf Compliance Courses
Like buying a box of cereal, you typically know what you’re going to get with off-the-shelf compliance courses. They cover a variety of topics and they can be fairly comprehensive.
However, the biggest drawback of these types of training materials is that they tend to be generic for compliance topics, and it can be difficult to ensure that an off the shelf course reflects a company’s business risks and culture. Off-the-shelf courses can be highly useful for covering topics that rarely change. Topics like leadership and management, negotiation, or general customer service skills are perfect for off-the-shelf trainings because the core principles and behaviors taught will likely stay the same over time.
Customized Compliance Courses
When it comes to compliance risk every company is unique. That is where customized, or bespoke courses, have a major advantage over off-the-shelf courses. A customized course can be targeted to cover in-depth topics that keep a Chief Compliance Officer up at night. Customized compliance training courses can focus specifically on the risks a company is trying to mitigate. These courses can include appropriate risk scenarios that employees face in their day-to-day work environment, rather than generic scenarios that might not be relevant to a company’s business model.
Another distinct advantage of a custom course is greater emphasis can be placed on specific compliance topics. Focus topics identified and targeted by an individual company’s risk analysis can be highlighted and emphasized.
Now, there’s a perception out there that buying a customized course is more expensive and can take a long time to create. The truth is that it will depend on the partner chosen to create the course. An experienced custom course developer can often develop materials faster than a client thinks, and the cost difference is often negligible. Some partners can deliver this, some can’t.
And while it’s necessary to do a little more due diligence to ensure that the vendor can meet a company’s needs, the alternative of purchasing an off-the-shelf training solution carries severe risks and potentially higher costs, as highlighted above.
Custom Course Development
If your company is looking for a custom compliance training courses, Xcelus can deliver. Contact us to discuss your needs and receive a custom quote.
Stand out from the crowd and create compliance training that your employees would want to see.
