Compliance used to be something handled with a handshake, or at most putting your signature on a piece of paper. Today they want data. You need to document that you are doing what you say you will do. You need to demonstrate that you can handle a crisis and protect the public.

Food industry, children’s consumer goods, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), medical… the list goes on. You need a system that track lot numbers, production dates, handle a recall by date or lot number. Failure to use a system will result in penalties, bad publicity, or at the very least a lot of manual effort to fix any compliance situations that may arises.

Next Steps

• talk to software vendors that are known to be best-of-breed for a particular industry.
• learn the pros and cons of each software package, and assess the industry expertise of the implementors that will help you set up the software and configure it for your business.