As tech ecosystems grow in complexity, traditional perceptions of compliance could be holding businesses back, says Daniel Marashlian, CTO and Co-founder, Drata.
As tech ecosystems grow in complexity, the traditional perception of compliance as a burden and a tick-box exercise could be holding businesses back.
Governance, risk and compliance (GRC) notoriously involves manual and time-intensive processes, often siloed and bogged down by paperwork, spreadsheets and screenshots.
As tech ecosystems grow in complexity, the traditional perception of compliance as a burden and a tick-box exercise could be holding businesses back.
However, by using automation to streamline the overall process and leveraging APIs, businesses can take their risk and compliance to the next level by aiding effortless continuous compliance and by putting the power of limitless customisation in customers.
The evolution of compliance
Having advanced from the days of manual compliance, today’s era of trust, automation and transparency allows publicly available APIs to serve as a conduit to customize compliance by connecting with any technology stack.
With the development of specialised software, developers now have the power to create APIs that seamlessly integrate with various software systems, paving the way for enhanced compliance solutions.
One of the primary benefits of these compliance-led APIs is their ability to assist businesses in meeting the ever-growing number of regulatory demands.
Take, for example, GDPR. In utilising these APIs, companies can easily manage user data, track consent, and promptly respond to access requests, all whilst adhering to regulatory guidelines.
In addition to the simplifying complex compliance tasks, the tools facilitate the generation of documentation, testing and validation for APIs.
This ensures that the APIs adhere to industry standards and best practices, thereby enabling security, reliability, and scalability reducing the risk of compliance issues.
To ensure the success of these APIs, they are built on user-friendly standards that enable customers to generate and manage API keys and access data through endpoints whilst seamlessly connecting with both first-party developers and third-party solutions.
This evolution from the past’s reactive, paper-based, manual compliance models is significant for businesses looking to remain compliant in the modern, branching business environment.
The benefits of an Open API include:
- Automate evidence collection: By utilising an Open API, organizations can benefit from seamless integration with various critical systems, automating evidence collection and minimizing the gaps in data
- Little to no code automations: Pre-built templates make it easy to connect with first-party or third-party solutions, quickly and efficiently
- Fully configurable security controls: Granular access control allows the customisation of permissions for every API key on a per-endpoint basis. This level of control enhances security and compliance and defines a clear audit trail for any changes made
- REST API standards: An API built on REST standards is more accessible to developers and facilitates faster implementation without hindering business, compliance, or risk initiatives.
Best practices when crafting a well-designed API
- Adhere to the specification: A crucial step in developing a well-designed API is to follow the specification. This guarantees compatibility with other API-compliance tools and services, promoting seamless integration
- Embrace simplicity: Complexity in an API can hinder developers’ usability. Aim to keep your API simple, easy to comprehend, and aligned with industry conventions for a smoother experience
- Prioritise clear documentation: Providing comprehensive documentation for your API is paramount. Utilise updated specifications to generate consistent and user-friendly documentation that aids developers in utilising your API effectively
- Employ consistent naming conventions: Consistent in naming API endpoints, parameters, and responses is vital. This fosters better understanding and usage for developers working with your API.
- Thoroughly test your API: Testing your API is a crucial step to ensure its functionality as intended. Rely on tools like Postman or Swagger UI to perform thorough tests on your API endpoints
- Implement security best practices: Safeguard your API from unauthorized access by adhering to industry-standard security practices Authentication, authorisation and encryption are fundamental elements in ensuring API protection.
- Continuously enhance your API: Embrace a mindset of continuous compliance improvement for your API. Incorporate feedback from developers, stay updated on new technologies, and adapt to evolving industry standards to enhance the API’s performance and usability.
The advantage of painless continuous compliance
Compared to traditional compliance, which is manual and confined to a specific time window, API-led compliance strategies enable a continuous process, which delivers constant verification and visibility into control status that can scale as required. By using automation and tools to monitor and assess compliance continuously, it can identify areas of non-compliance and remediate issues in real-time.
This leads to improved agility, reducing the time and resources required to comply with regulations and standards so companies can pivot quickly. It reduces risk by providing real-time monitoring and remediation of compliance issues, enabling organizations to address them proactively.
In addition, by automating repetitive tasks, reducing manual efforts and streamlining compliance processes, APIs significantly increase efficiency.
Taken together, all these benefits build trust both within and outside companies and enable enhanced decision-making.
As enabled by APIs, continuous compliance can be seen as the pinnacle of compliance evolution.
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