30 focus on Reading


Reading 2025: businesses facing impact of greater regulatory burden


No one in the Thames Valley business community is going to be able to escape the increased focus on regulatory compliance over the next 10 years, writes Amanda Coale, commercial senior associate, Shoosmiths


In fact, I’d go as far as saying that the compliance burden represents the single biggest legal challenge to confront businesses over the next decade.


Across the region, I’ve seen an increase in the number of businesses seeking legal advice for regulatory and compliance issues. This isn’t surprising given the significant increase in number and scope of regulations and frameworks including the modern-day slavery act, data protection and anti-bribery laws.


Despite positive noises from government to reduce red tape for business, and the removal of some minor regulations, there can be no doubt that global regulation remains substantial, resulting in compliance problems – and costs – for businesses. I cannot see this trend being reversed any time soon.


Alongside this, the enforcement bodies are enjoying greater investigatory powers and businesses face larger civil and criminal penalties for non- compliance whether that is in relation to environmental matter, health and safety or director’s duties.


For example, the starting point for corporate manslaughter offences in the UK is now £500,000.


So how can you make that switch from compliance being a burden to an opportunity?


I believe that one of – if not the – biggest compliance threat to businesses right now is breach of data protection. Big data and cloud usage feature in most business’s strategies as ways to reduce costs, provide greater insight and open up opportunities for better decision making and personalisation around the


www.businessmag.co.uk


READING THAMES VALLEY


2025 &


by the changes that allow consumers greater rights to return new cars and seek a full refund in the event of a problem. With the average depreciation value of a new car sitting around 30%, increased volume of returns presented a real and significant commercial risk to manufacturers and finance houses.


By working in partnership with legal, finance, sales, marketing, customer service and warranty teams, I reviewed the whole of their sales and aftersales journey and helped them identify and deliver day-to-day changes to mitigate the commercial risk of their cars being returned. The changes included introducing key performace indicators to manage repairs effectively, ensuring product changes were accurately reflected in their websites and marketing materials and making changes to dealer agreements to share the risk appropriately across the entire supply chain. I was able to share experiences and ideas from across the sector and even from outside the industry.


customer. But with that comes the risk of getting it wrong and incurring tough financial penalties. Recently, EU justice ministers have backed rules to allow maximum penalties of up to 2% of a business’s annual turnover for a breach of data protection rules.


The financial penalties and fear of imprisonment is often enough to pique the interest of the most harden CEOs, but it is often the reputational damage that has the biggest impact. This is why I advise my clients to take a proactive approach to compliance management and help them to understand what’s on the regulatory horizon so that they spot where it can actually offer a competitive advantage.


So how can you make that switch from compliance being a burden to an opportunity? I’m frequently asked that question by senior management teams who wrongly view compliance as a drain on their resources that bites into their profit margins rather presenting a powerful driver to address current operational challenges and make changes to help them achieve their strategic goals.


Though clichéd, I have seen this change of mindset deliver results recently in the automotive sector.


Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 automotive businesses have been hit hard


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – NOVEMBER 2015


The result? By understanding where they needed to review processes, implement training and manage dealer relationships to drive behavioural changes not only did they remain compliant, but they were also able to make tangible progress in achieving their long-term strategic goal of a delivering a consistent brand experience across a complex route-to- market.


While this is a great example of how the mindset of business leaders towards compliance is changing, it still comes as no surprise to me that a recent Fortune 500 survey revealed that 61% of CEO’s cite increased regulation as the biggest challenge facing their company.


I believe that with a raft of employment, commercial, corporate and real estate regulations set to change over the coming years, successful CEOs will be able to translate the compliance burden into opportunities to improve efficiency, productivity and positively impact their bottom line.


For more information on regulation and compliance visit our website.


Details: www.shoosmiths.co.uk


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60