Why is compliance a complex problem with few Procurement-Centric Solutions? Because compliance goes well beyond the narrow view that many platforms take. At a high level, we have:

• Regulatory Compliance
  which consists of government regulations at various levels that need to be adhered to and consists of requirements across organizational governance, workforce, materials, services, trade, and environmental considerations
• Organizational Compliance
  which consists of adhering to the policies your organization puts in place for purchasing, inventory tracking, regulatory compliance, auditing, etc.
• Industry Compliance
  which consists of adhering to industry standards and collective agreements
• Governance
  which consists of ensuring that all governance requirements of the organization are met across the regulatory, organizational, and industry efforts

And when you look at the market, most of the solutions on the market are narrowly focussed on:

• Environmental Compliance across environmental sustainability factors
• Trade Compliance to insure that all trade regulations are adhered to (and appropriate paperwork filled out)
• Tax Compliance to insure all appropriate taxes paid (or reclaimed)
• Workforce Compliance to insure all workers are eligible, appropriately paid, and/or appropriately insured
• Governance Compliance which makes sure appropriate internal processes are followed (and documentation maintained for audit trails)

… and, to slightly modify a common phase, never any two shall meet. And that’s why it’s a complex problem with few solutions in Supply Management. Will this change soon? We shall see …