CIOs have a unique vantage point over their organization. From where they sit, they see efficiencies, pain points, and potential weaknesses across all departments. This level of visibility is invaluable in today’s intricate, technology-driven, and information-rich business landscape.

With a majority of business operations riding on the shoulders of technology today, the success of one requires the coordination of many. That means a lot of vendors are involved in the handling and care of your sensitive data. How can companies ensure that the volumes of vendors they work with are compliant with all industry regulations and are properly protecting their business data?

Even if you have the greatest product in the world, it won’t sell if no one knows about it. You’ve got to invest in the proper promotional channels to get the word out. The same principle applies to an organization’s compliance program.

Promoting a culture of ethics and compliance is a fundamental component to the success of any organization. Although sometimes difficult to realize, the actual benefit of an ethics and compliance program exists in its ability to reinforce good decision making and ultimately steer us away from trouble. After all, just one mistake can leave you on the wrong side of the law, not to mention the financial drain and damage it can have on your company’s reputation. To create a culture that values ethics and compliance, we must realize a critical component: the buy-in. Simply put, everyone in the organization needs to be on board with the program.

As CEO of your company, you’ve worked hard to grow the business and ensure success. But there can be a roadblock to future growth of your organization—lack of compliance. This can have several negative effects on a company including loss of customers, fines and a lack of trust among current customers or prospects.

Effective compliance and risk management goes far beyond a set of policies. To be effective, a company’s compliance and risk management program must be embedded in its culture. All too often, companies see compliance as a separate activity that does not need to be integrated into the day-to-day business operations. All employees should share responsibility, and an intelligent risk framework should be created that brings compliance out in the open — letting employees know the importance of compliance while allowing them to communicate. But that’s often easier said than done.

Despite years of preparation and billions of dollars in spending, today’s businesses still aren’t prepared for cyber-attacks. Just turn on the evening news and you’ll be greeted with the name of the latest company to suffer an attack.

The ultimate goal of a compliance program is not only to make sure your organization meets the requirements for compliance, but to also ensure employees do the right thing. But it can be difficult to determine the success of your organization’s compliance. What do you measure? How often do you measure? What do you focus on?