For small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and large corporations alike, one fact remains true: compliance is a complex matter. It is difficult to achieve, and even harder to maintain. But larger businesses have a significant size and resource advantage that SMBs do not. This means that while their enormous in-house legal teams keep everything in check, you may be left in the cold – wondering how you will ever manage to comply with endless, ever-changing regulations.
The good news is that, contrary to common fears, IT compliance is not locked behind a paywall. While your size may make it more challenging, there is plenty you can do to avoid legal penalties and maintain client trust. Some simple considerations now will allow you to thrive long into the future, even if the rules change.
Read more: Top 10 Sobering Facts About Business Security in 2025
What is IT Compliance?
This term is thrown around a lot, and understanding it is crucial. IT compliance refers to the policies, procedures, and security measures that you will use to meet your industry’s cybersecurity laws and regulations. The rules you must follow vary widely, depending on your business. Law firms, for example, handle vast amounts of highly sensitive data and are subject to much harsher regulations. This means you will need a thorough understanding of your size, industry, and current data handling practices to develop a proper strategy.
The Difference Between IT Compliance, Governance, and Security
IT compliance, IT governance, and IT security are three separate terms that are often confused. While these concepts are all interconnected, they serve different functions:
- IT compliance focuses on meeting legal and industry regulations.
- IT security is the implementation of defensive measures to prevent cyber-attacks.
- IT governance is the creation of policies and frameworks that will align your IT with overall goals and risk management strategies.
All three are designed to work as parts of a comprehensive whole, ultimately ensuring efficiency and security.
The Consequences of Non-Compliance
Adherence to regulations is mandatory, not optional. A failure to fulfill your obligations may result in a variety of negative outcomes, all of which can cause severe harm to your business:
- Cyber-Attacks: Weak security measures make you an easy target for threat actors. The consequences of a successful attack can be devastating and far-reaching.
- Legal Action: Neglecting your legal obligations will eventually result in legal action, either through routine audits or as the result of lawsuits.
- Loss of Business Opportunities: Companies that prioritize security will not want to work with you, if your own measures are lacking. Just like clients, partners notice whether you take IT compliance seriously and will act accordingly.
- Reputational Damage: Clients trust you to protect their data, especially in more highly regulated industries. When this trust is broken, it is difficult to repair. They may turn to your competitors, instead.
- Financial Losses: Ultimately, this is the result of all other consequences listed here. Whether due to operational disruptions caused by a data breach or fines imposed by a regulatory body, non-compliance will result in financial loss. When your business already operates on tight budgets, this can mean the difference between success and failure.
What Are Some Key Regulations for Canadian SMBs?
You cannot comply without first understanding which rules you need to follow. While laws vary by location and industry, some of the most relevant to Canadian SMBs include:
PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act)
PIPEDA regulates how your business may collect, use, and disclose personal data. Under this law, businesses must obtain consent for all of the above actions except in certain circumstances. Some of the conditions that allow for non-consensual use of data include:
- In matters of life and death
- Use or disclosure is required in some way by the justice system
- The use of data is necessary and unavoidable for another reason (e.g. to inform next-of-kin of a death)
Unless the correct conditions are met, you are required to obtain informed consent – meaning that the individual whose data is being collected or used must be fully aware of the implications before agreeing.
PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard)
PCI DSS is a global standard that defines how credit card information can be processed, stored, and transmitted. Any business, of any size, that uses credit cards must comply. It relies on six core security controls:
- Build and maintain a secure network
- Protect the data of cardholders
- Maintain a vulnerability management program (i.e. a risk management strategy)
- Implement access control measures
- Monitor and test networks
- Maintain an information security policy
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)
The GDPR is an EU law that significantly tightened data privacy and protection regulations. Regardless of where your business is based, you must obey these rules if you handle the data of EU citizens in any capacity. Some important parts of the GDPR include:
- Transparency: All data must be obtained with consent and full transparency about how it will be used.
- Accuracy: Outdated or inaccurate data must be removed and replaced.
- Storage: Data must be disposed of when it is no longer needed or being used.
- Right to Erasure: Individuals have a right to see the data that has been collected, and to demand its disposal.
The Unique Challenges of IT Compliance for SMBs (and How to Address Them)
As an SMB, you will face a unique set of IT compliance challenges compared to larger corporations:
Budgets
SMBs operate on tighter budgets than bigger businesses. This may make it difficult to allocate funds for compliance initiatives, security tools, and IT experts. For this reason alone, they often fall behind and are not able to maintain compliance. Put money aside for cybersecurity and compliance concerns to avoid this issue. Re-prioritize your budget as if they are necessities, and consider spending less on other technology investments unless necessary.
Lack of In-House Expertise
Whether due to space or resources, you may not be able to afford a full, in-house IT team. The resulting lack of company expertise may mean that certain compliance issues are missed or forgotten, leading to legal penalties. If you are unable to hire sufficient IT staff, you can address this challenge by outsourcing IT to a third-party.
Third-Party Security Risks
SMBs often rely on third-party vendors and service providers for their daily operations. This is useful, but can also present a security risk if those vendors are not using secure practices. Threat actors will often attack a supplier or service provider, and then use this attack vector to reach their partners. You can mitigate this risk by properly vetting out all third-parties and ensuring they prioritize security. Improving your own measures can also help.
Compliance Tips
- Conduct Regular IT Audits: Routine IT audit and compliance reviews will help you identify gaps and areas for improvement before a serious issue can arise.
- Implement Strong Access Controls: Restrict access to sensitive data based on job roles. This protects against cyber threats and reduces the likelihood of an untrained employee accidentally breaching regulations.
- Encrypt Data: Data encryption is a standard expectation of most data protection regulations. Be sure to encrypt it both in transit and at rest.
- Train Employees: Teach staff about the importance of compliance, relevant regulations, and how to obey them.
- Use Compliance-Friendly Solutions: Invest in technology solutions that are designed to meet industry standards, or otherwise improve compliance.
- Develop an Incident Response Plan: A structured and rehearsed plan will control damage during a data breach, demonstrating your commitment to compliance and lowering your risk of experiencing legal penalties.
- Keep a Paper Trail: Thoroughly document all compliance activities and keep multiple copies. This will allow you to prove compliance if necessary.
Additional Security Measures
In addition to the above suggestions, it is advisable to inspect your overall cybersecurity measures. The better your security is, the easier compliance will be – even if regulations become more stringent. Some extra measures you can implement include:
- Use a cybersecurity framework to help guide your defensive techniques. The NIST framework is just one example, but there are many to choose from.
- Regularly update all devices and software. Threat actors often exploit vulnerabilities present in older versions.
- Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA), to prevent unauthorized access.
- Use email filters to block phishing scams before they can reach your employees.
- Enforce strong password policies such as length, complexity, and originality.
How Technology Can Help You Comply
There are a few important IT tools that can assist with compliance challenges:
The Cloud
Cloud solutions provide additional backups, contain built-in security measures, and data held within them is usually simple to manage. But be careful to vet out cloud service providers and ensure they use cybersecurity best practices. Choose providers who prioritize security and have not experienced many previous data breaches.
IT Compliance Tools
There are many software tools designed to help businesses track and maintain compliance. These may be general or industry-specific, and will automate many important activities for you. Some examples can be found here.
Threat Detection Software
AI-driven threat detection tools can identify and stop potential cyber-attacks in real-time, lowering your chances of experiencing a data breach. This helps you remain compliant with security standards, and mitigates your risk of being audited due to a breach.
When to Consider Managed Services
If you struggle to achieve and maintain compliance on your own, you might want to consider outsourcing. Managed service providers (MSPs) are familiar with all necessary regulations, and have the necessary tools and experience to help you adhere to them. This option is also significantly cheaper than maintaining internal IT staff, since MSPs leverage economies of scale to keep their prices low. Perhaps the biggest advantage is the additional free time and removal of stress factors. By handling IT management, security, and compliance for you, MSPs free up time that you and your staff can then spend on more pressing concerns. This freedom to operate without constantly worrying about whether the right boxes have been checked cannot be overlooked.
If you are considering managed services, ask these questions when vetting out MSPs:
- Do they specialize in your industry?
- Can they point to relevant case studies of past clients?
- Do they have the necessary certifications?
- Do they make security a top priority?
- Are they interested in learning about your business?
- Is pricing predictable and transparent?
- Do they communicate openly and clearly, and respond quickly?
- Can their services scale with your business?
Governance, Risk, and Compliance: A Three-Pronged Approach to Security
It is beneficial to think of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) as one entity with many interconnected parts. They are closely related, and must all be implemented effectively. This will allow you to avoid cyber-attacks, which in turn will even further strengthen your compliance. GRC also improves business efficiency, enabling greater long-term success.
To implement GRC, you must first decide upon a set of policies and procedures that will govern your company’s IT use. These should be developed with security and relevant laws in mind, and designed to comply with both. This is the foundation that your efforts will be built upon.
Next, a comprehensive risk assessment should be performed. Evaluate your IT infrastructure, including:
- Hardware
- Software
- Networks
- Cloud solutions
Check the results of your evaluation against the governance policies you have created. The purpose of this is to identify potential risk factors, as well as gaps within your defenses.
Once you have assessed your business’ biggest threats, you must work to address them. Close any security or compliance gaps, and add extra defenses around exposed vulnerabilities. Document your assessment and all action taken, so that it is easily retrievable in the event of a compliance audit.
Finally, you must remain aware of changes within the cybersecurity and regulatory environments. Even if your business is compliant today, it may not be tomorrow – or a new threat may appear that your current defenses do not sufficiently address. Tracking any new developments through news sites, threat intelligence, and expert consultation will allow you to address future problems before they can impact the business.
A strategy that combines governance, risk, and compliance elements ensures that:
- Regulations are adhered to within every part of your business.
- Your chances of experiencing a data breach are low.
- All IT investments contribute to either improved security, compliance, or efficiency.
Don’t Let Compliance Fall to the Wayside - Make It a Top Priority Today
IT compliance is a deep and complex topic, not least of all because it keeps changing. As time passes, new regulations are introduced and old ones are adjusted or phased out to keep up with modern attitudes and concerns. And with limited resources available to them, SMBs may find it extremely difficult to keep up with this ever-shifting facet of IT management. But you can address these challenges with the correct knowledge, preparation, and strategies. Understanding your limitations and working within them will better position you to achieve compliance and protect your reputation.
As a Canadian provider of top-tier IT services, Com Pro has the knowledge and experience to address all your compliance concerns. We offer enterprise-level security and management for SMB costs, tailored to your individual needs for the best results. If you’re trying to navigate the world of IT compliance, discover how our managed IT services can protect your business.