Many companies still run operations on shared spreadsheets, email threads, and tools that cannot handle sensitive data. IBM's 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report found that the average breach at a small business costs between $120,000 and $1.24 million, depending on severity. For many mid-sized companies, that is not a recoverable hit. But breaches are only one part of the equation.
In a recent PwC survey, 86% reported that compliance obligations have grown more complex over the past three years, and 77% said that complexity has negatively impacted five or more areas that drive growth, including profitability, resource capacity, and market expansion.
Keep reading to learn the factors to consider when choosing tools for compliance-sensitive operations.
Spreadsheets are familiar and flexible. For most companies, they were never meant to become the backbone of operations. But that is exactly what happens over time. What starts as a simple tracker gradually becomes the system of record for production schedules, vendor data, customer information, or franchise reporting.
The common issue for running operations on spreadsheets is everything that is missing around it. There are no access controls, which means anyone with the link can view, edit, or accidentally delete critical data.
There is no reliable way to know who changed what or when those changes were made. Version control typically relies on file naming conventions that break down quickly. And when sensitive data like customer records, safety logs, or trade compliance documents lives in that environment, the exposure is significant. The common thread across all of these scenarios is that the tools being used were not built to support the level of accountability that regulated industries demand.
Most conversations about workflow compliance focus on surface-level features like approval chains, reporting dashboards, and task tracking. Those capabilities serve a purpose, but they only function properly if the platform they sit on has been built with security and compliance at its core.
Here are reasons why platform security should be the starting point of any compliance conversation.
When a platform holds SOC 2 Type 2 certification, it means an independent third party has verified that the company's systems meet strict standards for security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy over a sustained period of time. This is not a self-assessment or a marketing claim. It is a rigorous, ongoing evaluation that gives operations leaders a clear and verifiable signal that the platform has been tested against recognized industry benchmarks.
Many of the tools that companies rely on, including shared spreadsheets and general-purpose project management platforms, offer limited or no granular access controls. This forces teams to choose between locking everything down (which slows work) or leaving everything open (which creates risk). A compliance-ready platform should enable operations leaders to define role-based permissions so that team members can see and interact only with the data relevant to their functions.
One of the biggest compliance challenges for multi-location businesses like franchise networks, logistics operations, and manufacturing companies with multiple facilities is process consistency. When each location runs its own version of a workflow using its own tools and templates, the organization has no reliable way to ensure compliance standards are met consistently. A secure platform that allows teams to build standardized workflows and deploy them across locations eliminates this variability.
When workflows run on a platform that has already been vetted for security and data handling, the compliance burden on individual teams decreases significantly. For example, Legend Valve, a Michigan-based industrial valve manufacturer with a supply chain spanning 14 countries, experienced this firsthand. After replacing spreadsheet-driven processes with Kintone to manage CTPAT compliance, the company went from spending months preparing for audits to completing them within the same day, while also reducing costs in their landed cost process and improving data accuracy across the supply chain team.
Regulations evolve continuously, and the tools that support your compliance strategy need to keep pace. When evaluating workflow platforms for a compliance-sensitive environment, go beyond the feature list and ask harder questions.
Has the platform been independently certified for security and data handling? Can your team control who accesses what without filing an IT ticket? Can workflows be adjusted as requirements change without rebuilding from scratch? And when something goes wrong, or you need guidance, is there a real person available to help? For companies operating in regulated industries, these are the questions that separate a system that supports compliance from one that quietly undermines it.
If you’re interested in running workflows on a platform that handles sensitive data, you should start a free trial with Kintone.