This past month, we had the pleasure of reconnecting with many in the ComplyWith community at our four ComplyWith User Groups in Hamilton, Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch.
The engagement and feedback was invaluable, and we're excited to share a quick recap of the highlights from these sessions.
For those who missed the presentations or want to revisit the details, please don't hesitate to reach out to admin@complywith.com for a copy of the presentation slides.
TechTalk – Recent and upcoming enhancements
Recent enhancements
At the recent TechTalk sessions, we delved into some exciting updates that have been rolled out as a direct response to your feedback from our last round of User Groups. Here are two standout features:
- New template for compliance survey reports: We've streamlined the process of generating compliance survey reports with a fresh, user-friendly template designed to save you time and enhance clarity.
- Reallocation of corrective actions: You can now easily delegate corrective actions to other users, simplifying the process and ensuring accountability.
Upcoming features and enhancements
We're also thrilled to give you a sneak peek into what's on the horizon:
- Enhanced obligations register: Soon, you'll be able to view legal compliance obligations 'By Activity' in addition to the existing 'By Legislation' view in the ComplyWith obligations register.
- Revamped email sender: Our overhaul includes customisable email templates, improved flexibility around sender details, and enhanced DKIM setup to ensure your emails reach their intended recipients.
- Auto-saving compliance responses: To improve the compliance survey experience for users, we're introducing auto-saving for incomplete responses, and removing the need for respondents to manually lock off their surveys.
- Linking legal obligations to controls, internal policies, and organisation notes: We’re developing a powerful new feature that will allow seamless linking between legal obligations, controls, internal policies, resources, and your own notes. This enhancement will help streamline how you manage and relate your compliance requirements.
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Presentation – Insights from recent court cases
David Woodnorth of ComplyWith delivered a talk drawing on his recent keynote presentation at the RiskNZ conference. He explored critical lessons from 3 recent high-profile cases:
- Mainzeal and Dame Jenny Shipley
- The Whakaari White Island Tragedy
- Health and Safety Prosecution of the Former CEO of Ports of Auckland
These cases exemplify the pitfalls of the 'SBR' (She’ll Be Right) approach to legal compliance. David provided insights into the increasing legal and ISO standards for effective legal compliance systems, illustrating five fundamental building blocks of better legal compliance due diligence.
Keep an eye out for a series of in-depth articles where we'll expand on David’s presentation.
Open discussion and questions
The open discussions at our User Groups proved to be an excellent platform for sharing experiences, posing challenging questions, and providing direct input into ComplyWith’s product development. While each city brought unique perspectives, several key themes emerged:
- Feature requests: We received some great suggestions and 'wish lists' for new tech features and enhancements, which we greatly appreciate.
- Board engagement: There’s a growing trend of boards actively participating in their organisation’s legal compliance programs. We’re working on initiatives to simplify how boards understand their legal responsibilities.
- Year-round engagement: Participants expressed a desire for improved engagement in legal compliance beyond their legal compliance surveys.
- Unplugged 2024: Suggestions for topics at the upcoming Unplugged event included inviting a representative from the new Ministry for Regulation. We’re excited to confirm that the Ministry’s Chief Legal Officer will be presenting at the event.
Conclusion
One of the most rewarding aspects of our in-person User Groups is the opportunity to engage in diverse discussions about what's working well and where we can improve. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to the conversation. Your insights are crucial as we continue to evolve and enhance what we do.
