Gene Geiger of A-LIGN joins Tom Fox on this week’s show to discuss his company’s innovative compliance management platform, A-SCEND. Gene remarks that there was a market need to drive technology in the professional services space. “What we’ve been missing is driving automation and driving workflow and driving efficiency through technology, and that’s really what A-SCEND is meant to do. It’s meant to complement the people in the audit workflow to make the job as efficient and as automated as possible,” he says.

Built For Users
“The need for technology crosses multiple compliance standards,” Gene remarks. A-SCEND is built to comply with eight compliance standards in the cybersecurity industry. In addition, Gene says, users can input their own internal standards using the custom object module. He describes various features of the platform that helps clients automate their compliance workflow, and manage compliance tasks throughout the year, rather than just for the annual audit. A unique feature of A-SCEND is its ability to de-duplicate requests across multiple compliance standards, resulting in up to a 50% decrease in workload when preparing for audits. Gene points out how these innovative features allow their clients to do anytime, anywhere audits, and how both they and their clients were able to pivot easily to remote work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tom asks how feedback is built into the platform. Gene outlines several mechanisms, including their advisory board, surveys, and their customer support system. “We are able to build an application for compliance management that really meets the needs of the users,” he says.
The Future of Strategic Compliance
Tom and Gene discuss the future of strategic compliance. Gene predicts that there will be movement towards benchmarking, AI-based review and evidence collection, and data-driven metrics.
Resources
A-lign.com