Make Communication Compliance Challenges a Win-Win-Win with CCM Software
Gina Armada and MHC Team 
January 19th, 2024
No matter your industry or the size of your business, communication compliance is a top-of-mind concern for every organization. Keeping your communications compliant with regulations and industry standards is a major factor in maintaining strong relationships with customers and vendors, and businesses that fail to do so risk significant penalties and reputational damage. Beyond that, compliance can be an important catalyst for rethinking your organization’s approach to vital processes and new opportunities.
At the recent Xplor 2023 conference, MHC’s former CEO Gina Armada used her company’s real-world experiences to address the importance of compliance in business communications. In this piece, we’ll look at some of the key takeaways from her illuminating webinar “Customer Stories of Change and Agility to Achieve Compliance Through Communications.” We also recommend watching the webinar in its entirety for free on the MHC website — there are some valuable lessons in there!
“Take a moment and think about your organization. How does your organization think about compliance specifically related to customers? Who’s responsible? How is it managed? Do you even know who’s responsible and how they’re managing things? Is compliance perceived and dealt with as an obligatory, must-do action? Is it kind of a check-the-box situation, or is it used strategically? Does your organization have the mindset that [compliance] has more upside potential, rather than an obligation? Does your organization think about compliance based on external influences only — requirements, laws, regulations, et cetera? How influential is your organization around internal compliance? We all play different roles. The intent for today is to prompt thinking and encourage a mindset of looking at compliance as an opportunity, more than merely an obligation.”
Gina Armada, Former CEO of MHC
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- How Does Your Organization Think About Customer Communication Compliance?
- 8 Reasons Why Compliance Matters in Communications
- What Are Some Common Compliance Challenges?
- How Does CCM Software Streamline Communication Compliance?
- Compliance Should Be Prioritized as a Win-Win-Win
- 4 Communications Success Stories from Our Customers
How Does Your Organization Think About Customer Communication Compliance?
Different organizations take different approaches to compliance. Communication likewise takes on different meanings for different businesses. For too many businesses, however, compliance in customer communication is treated as something they’re obligated to do. While the risks of noncompliance are real and important, compliance can be more than just a thing you do to avoid getting fined. It can be an opportunity to improve the clarity of your communications, boost customer satisfaction, and create new efficiencies in your communications process.
“We have the opportunity to turn that financial risk [of noncompliance] into financial reward. We can do that by shifting how compliance is framed within the organization, and through the importance it receives both from leadership in an organization and throughout that organization’s culture.”
Gina Armada, Former CEO of MHC
With the right tools and leadership, compliance can be more of a byproduct of streamlined communication processes and efficient tech solutions and less of a goal unto itself. When compliant processes are the norm, working toward compliance becomes less of a challenge.
Who Owns Customer Communications Compliance in an Organization?
One of the key factors in developing a consistent compliance communication plan is determining who is in charge. Depending on the structure of your organization and the nature of your communications, that could be a number of different people and departments. According to a poll of participants in our “Customer Stories of Change and Agility” webinar, responsibility for customer communication compliance most frequently rests with:
Head of Compliance
Head of Finance
Head of Legal
Head of Customer Relations
An effective compliance communication plan should clearly define who is responsible for ensuring that various kinds of communication are compliant with both regulations and internal business policies. It’s also key to remember that customer communications is a team effort. Your plan should define roles and relationships between stakeholders and contributors including your communications and marketing teams, legal department, compliance team, and anyone else who regularly touches external communications.
8 Reasons Why Compliance Matters in Communications
Some of the reasons for establishing and following a communication compliance plan may seem obvious — no one wants to risk being fined or attracting negative publicity — but there are other important cases to be made for compliance beyond not getting in trouble. Some key areas where compliance can make a big difference include:
1. Legal Risks
Regulations surrounding data privacy, information security, and other communication concerns put noncompliant businesses at risk of considerable fines, sanctions, and other penalties.
2. Financial Risks
Beyond the cost of correcting compliance violations and paying fines, noncompliance can damage a business’s reputation and strain valuable customer and vendor relationships.
3. Saving Time
When communication compliance issues arise, identifying the causes, making necessary adjustments to your processes, and patching things up with customers takes up valuable time that would be better used elsewhere.
4. Increasing Productivity
One of the side effects of following compliance standards is a more streamlined and efficient communication process that keeps employees more engaged, collaborative, and productive.
5. Easier Control and Auditing
Using an automated solution to ensure compliance has the added benefit of providing your team with real-time insights into your workflows, giving you more control and simplifying the auditing process.
6. Improving Accessibility
The more closely a business adheres to compliance regulations, the more likely it is to also meet accessibility standards that help to ensure that communications are accessible and inclusive for all audiences.
7. Better Customer Clarity
Setting compliance standards for all customer communications is an excellent way to ensure that those messages are being delivered clearly, accurately, and in a tone and language that best fits your customers.
8. More Uniformity
Communication compliance standards are a useful tool for making sure that elements such as branding, tone, language, and overall messaging remain consistent across all of your communications.
“Compliance helps make sure that your customer communications are reaching the right audiences in an inclusive way, and that the information you’re sharing with them is accessible. Clarity is another keyword. Compliance also ensures that the communications are clear and customers understand them. And then there’s uniformity. There’s nothing like getting multiple communications from one of your providers, or even as a consumer. When the messaging looks inconsistent across the various communications, that alone prompts confusion.”
Gina Armada, Former CEO of MHC
What Are Some Common Compliance Challenges?
If keeping compliant was simple, everyone would be doing it. The truth is that maintaining compliance in communication takes a good deal of effort and strategy. As part of our “Achieve Compliance Through Communications” webinar, we asked participants about the biggest compliance challenges their businesses face. The top responses included keeping up with changes in compliance standards and getting communications created, reviewed, approved, and distributed in a timely fashion. Those are among the toughest tasks for organizations of all sizes. Let’s take a closer look at those and other regular concerns for businesses trying to boost compliance.
Constant Change
Regulations around customer communications are always evolving. Keeping up with the latest laws and requirements requires constant monitoring and the flexibility to adapt to new situations as they develop.
Disparate Data Sources
Many times, business communications require pulling from multiple data sources — systems, databases, file formats, and other data storage options that are not necessarily designed to integrate or communicate easily with each other.
Executing to Change
Especially in a system that relies on manual processes, guiding customer communication from creation to reviews and approvals and finally distribution can take a lot of time and also make it harder to detect errors and inefficiencies.
How Does CCM Software Streamline Communication Compliance?
The compliance challenges faced by modern businesses are too complex and fluid to be effectively managed without the assistance of automated customer communications management (CCM) solutions. Especially for businesses dealing with high volumes of documents, geographically diverse customer bases, and frequently changing regulations, the reliability and consistency of a software solution is a necessity. MHC offers industry-leading CCM solutions packed with features to make your compliance process streamlined and dependable, including:
Centralized, Editable, and Reusable Templates
Centralized, Editable, and Reusable TemplatesTemplate overflow can make communications efforts into an impenetrable mess. MHC’s library of reusable template and content fragments reduces bloat and makes it easier to personalize communications for specific audiences.
Automated Workflows
Rules-based tools and technology from MHC allow communications to move through your system with minimal human touch points. That makes your system faster, more efficient, and much less prone to human error.
Role-Appropriate Access
Making changes and edits to templates and workflows shouldn’t require scheduling a visit from IT. MHC software allows managers and business users to review and edit communications directly in the system, with updates applied automatically.
Version Control
In a fast-moving and complex industry, changes to communications aren’t always final. MHC solutions include version control functions that keep all previous versions of a document available for quick reference.
Omnichannel Delivery
Today’s customers expect communications to be available across multiple channels. MHC answers that call with delivery solutions that let customer receive communications via their preferred channel, and to navigate easily between channels.
“We hear from organizations how difficult it becomes simply to rebrand and communicate effectively. The more centralized your core reusable components are, the easier it is to maintain those communications. With simply one quick change you can impact thousands of different types of communications that are distributed.
If your organization has multiple checks and balances regarding who should approve things. Look at your review and approval workflow capabilities, so that you make sure it passes all reviews and approvals before it actually gets distributed. You can track the history of those approvals, and you have version control, so you can always see what was distributed when, and what it included.”
Gina Armada, Former CEO of MHC
CCM SOFTWARE
Discover Our CCM Solutions
Automate the entire customer communication process, from production and assembly to personalization and omnichannel delivery. Experience the difference with MHC NorthStar CCM. Discover the features and benefits!
Compliance Should Be Prioritized as a Win-Win-Win
As we mentioned earlier, the most successful approach to communications compliance is often to regard compliance challenges as opportunities for improvement. When handled wisely, a reliable communications system and strategy can be a solid win-win-win for all of the parties involved: your business, your customers, and your employees.
Wins for Organizations
Communication compliance is a win for your business because compliant practices reduce inefficiencies, generate more revenue, protect your reputation, and give your business an opportunity to expand. That allows for more centralized and standardized practices as well as more personalized customer communications.
Wins for Customers
Your customers benefit from communication compliance with timelier, more accurate information. Compliance helps ensure that your communications are clear and useful to customers, cutting down on confusion and encouraging repeat business. When customers have confidence in that relationship, they feel better seen and served.
Wins for Employees
More compliance in communications means that processes move faster with fewer errors, reducing the time your employees need to spend managing repetitive tasks and correcting issues. That creates a less reactive, more proactive environment that reduces stress while improving engagement.
“When orders are going out the door correctly, in a timely way, that is going to produce revenue and help the business grow. Customers receive the goods without delays, and with accurate information. That timeliness is critically important to the customer. For employees, you can improve quality of life by having reduced urgency and night and weekend work to try and maintain the output flow of documents that require timely delivery”
Gina Armada, Former CEO of MHC
4 Communications Success Stories from Our Customers
The benefits of investing in customer communication compliance are more than just theoretical. MHC has heard time and time again from satisfied customers whose organizations are reaping the reward of taking a more proactive approach to compliance. Let’s look at four real-world examples of businesses across a variety of industries whose compliance efforts have been bolstered by MHC software solutions.1. The Manufacturer in Need of Quicker Changes
This medical device manufacturing business was struggling with maintaining the timeliness and accuracy of its shipments. In a highly regulated industry where requirements change frequently, making changes to their outdated system took up so much time and effort that every adjustment was causing delays and backups. Using CCM solutions from MHC, they were able to simplify those time-consuming processes and generate faster, more accurate customer communications.
Needs
- Faster communications processing
- Easier adaptability to compliance changes
- More reliably accurate product packaging
Challenges
- Inefficient processes piling up on each other, creating a snowball effect
- Global client base requiring compliance with multiple standards
- Slow turnarounds creating frustration for both employees and customers
“With more proactive and less reactive approaches — what we sometimes hear of as fire drills — there is less pressure to urgently send communications out. It can be reduced with centralization and standardization and control. Organizations can reduce the cyclical impact of compliance timeframes, where it becomes a very urgent and reactive situation. Instead, we can shift that thinking and think more about proactive communication and less about urgency.”
Gina Armada, former CEO of MHC
Wins for the
Customers
- More accurate and timely communications and order deliveries
- Increased confidence in the reliability of the manufacturer
Wins for the Organization
- Maintenance efforts were reduced by 60% for long-term cost savings
- Centralized control eliminated much of the confusion and churn
- Reusable content and templates simplified future communications
2. The Telecom Company Looking for Dynamic Document Management
This telecommunications company was dealing with a wide-ranging customer base, both demographically and geographically. They needed a solution that could quickly adapt to variable compliance statement formats, allow personalized communications for hundreds of target audiences, and securely pull data from multiple sources. Using CCM solutions from MHC, they were able to automate data extraction, institute scalable document and template controls, and create personalized messaging that served each audience.
Needs
- Quick reaction to regulatory changes across a variety of geographies
- Ability to personalize messaging for a variety of audiences
- Ability to quickly and smoothly pull data from multiple sources
- Need to maximize flexibility in document creation without becoming overloaded with templates
Challenges
- Customers spread over multiple geographies mean complying with a variety of regulations
- Difficult to personalize communications to meet the needs of individual customers and target audiences
- Pulling, reconciling, and distributing data from multiple sources is a slow and inefficient process
“All the employees who are involved in this process benefited from the technical resources. They were no longer burdened with the heavy maintenance of managing many, many hundreds of complex templates. The organization was able to get rid of all that and think about centralization control and dynamic composition of that content. That allowed them to hit the compliance means in a more timely manner, and allow business users to do the work instead of developers. That then allowed those technical resources who were freed up to work on different company priorities and strategic objectives for the company. Overall, that reduces the total cost of ownership and overhead.”
Gina Armada, former CEO of MHC
Wins for the
Customers
- Dynamic document generation and centralized template control make it easy to personalize communications
- Clear, accurate, and uniform documents and communications reduce customer questions and confusion
Wins for the Organization
- Dynamic composition reduces the need for maintenance and supports greater productivity
- Centralized control allows easy audit-tracking and visibility into what has changed what needs to be done
- Improved communication means reduced costs and increased revenue
3. The Tax Business in Need of Personalized Scalability
This public sector organization dealt heavily with high volumes of tax documents that required quick turnarounds. The cyclical nature of the tax industry also meant that the business needed to be able to scale its document production to match fluctuating demand at different times of the year. Visibility and auditability were also key considerations in a highly regulated industry that depends on accuracy and consistency. CCM solutions from MHC allowed the company to generate millions of personalized documents to meet the tax-season demand, then scale back as that demand decreased.
Needs
- Ability to scale and adjust communications in time with the cyclical nature of the tax industry
- Produce high-volume communications to accommodate millions of customers in a short time frame
- Need visibility into the communications process to allow for easy auditability
- Ability to distribute consistently accurate information that is crucial for tax communications
Challenges
- Customers spread over multiple geographies mean complying with a variety of regulations
- Difficult to personalize communications to meet the needs of individual customers and target audiences
- Pulling, reconciling, and distributing data from multiple sources is a slow and inefficient process
“Having that centralized control, audit tracking, and simplified communications made the difference. When those tax cycles occurred, it was visible to everyone what had changed, what needed to be changed, what had already been done, and what might still be left outstanding. That auditability was critically important for them to have visibility into what was going on. For customers, clear and accurate documents and communications reduce questions and confusion. Ultimately, in this case, from a tax perspective, it ended up generating revenue.”
Gina Armada, former CEO of MHC
Wins for the
Customers
- Dynamic document generation and centralized template control make it easy to personalize communications
- Clear, accurate, and uniform documents and communications reduce customer questions and confusion
Wins for the Organization
- Easy scalability allows them to adjust their output to match the cyclical needs of the tax industry
- Centralized control allows easy audit-tracking and visibility into what has changed what needs to be done
- Improved communication means reduced costs and increased revenue
4. The Compliance Services Business Looking for Consolidated Flexibility
This business services organization was focused on publishing guides for customer compliance, which gave them extra motivation to upgrade their own compliance processes. Their business requires pulling and quickly sharing data from multiple sources, with a need to accommodate frequent changes and a variable level of demand. CCM software solutions from MHC helped them automate document assembly to pull from many sources at once, with centralized controls that allowed them to make changes and scale communications as needed.
Needs
- Compiling complex information from multiple sources into books and reference materials
- Ability to scale document production to match business needs
- Ability to make quick and accurate changes without disrupting communications processes
Challenges
- Necessary changes were difficult to detect and implement quickly
- Managing multiple data sources without overloading employees with manual processes
- Scaling and flexing production to match the rate of change was difficult
“The organization was able to empower business users to drive results without relying on them to manage all of these inbound sources of compliance and regulation information. They were also able to move their support to the cloud, which had additional benefits for them. And then they were able to accelerate the speed at which compliance information could be distributed to their customers. We know that the more time we have to be prepared for compliance changes, the better off we are as organizations, so that’s another win for customers.”
Gina Armada, former CEO of MHC
Wins for the
Customers
- Faster turnarounds ensure they receive compliance information when they need it
- Increased accuracy and a more consistent customer experience reduces questions and frustrations
Wins for the Organization
- Scalability and flexibility to adjust to changing customer demand
- Faster speed-to-market allows timely distribution of sensitive material
- Moved support to the cloud while empowering business users and decreasing the need for IT
Wins for the
Employees
- Easier collaborations across departments for quicker approvals
- Less stress and demand for speed adds up to less overtime and more employee satisfaction
How Can MHC’s CCM Software Solve Your Compliance Challenges?
Compliance is not the kind of concern that any business can afford to overlook, and automated tools are increasingly important to ensuring that your communications are compliant with all of the regulations and industry guidelines required. MHC specializes in flexible software solutions tailored to solve the specific compliance challenges faced by your business. Contact us today to schedule a demonstration from our in-house product experts and find out how MHC can simplify and streamline your compliance processes.
FREE DEMO
Get a Live Demo Today
Experience the ease of configurable workflows. Experience the autonomy of self-service access. Experience the freedom of eliminating mundane tasks.
Gina Armada
Gina Armada was Chief Executive Officer of MHC until February 2026, bringing over 27 years of experience leveraging technology to deliver business solutions and customer value. Gina led MHC in consistently delivering intelligent workflow and content automation solutions that organizations can rely upon to streamline their operations, optimize productivity, and increase engagement with customers. Gina worked at Accenture until she joined MHC in 2008, serving in multiple roles until she was named CEO in 2019. When Gina isn’t piloting the growth of software solutions and services, she is active in coaching youth sports and loves spending free time with family and friends.
Team MHC
Team MHC consists of a multitude of roles, functions, and expertise within MHC. With extensive combined experience in accounts payable and customer communication management, Team MHC has a unique insight into how to empo wer people using solutions that streamline processes while enhancing customer communication. Working alongside field experts in various industries and company sizes, Team MHC has garnered impressive thought leadership knowledge that we are excited to share with our readers. Including Aragon’s 2022 Women in Tech winner Gina Armada, CTO Dan Ward, VPs of Finance and Customer Service, and other talent that runs the spectrum of technology ability, Team MHC offers a mastery of skills to benefit our customers and prospects alike.
