Phase 2 - Compliance Applicability Assessment
In this phase, TeamLease Regtech team analysed all the information gathered and created a comprehensive list of applicable Acts and compliances by
-
Entity / Sub-Entity
-
Compliance Categories (Labour, Finance & Taxation, EHS, Commercial, Secretarial, Industry Specific & Other Local Laws)
-
IT Systems (Desktops, Laptops, Network Equipment, Servers, Storage)
-
Establishment Types
TeamLease Regtech team identified various licenses, registrations permissions, consent orders, approvals and renewal requirements across all their offices. There were 71 Acts found applicable with over 2,800 compliances across 5 states. These included 1,010 event based and an additional 1,489 on-going compliances. In addition, there were 295 returns, registers and challans on a monthly basis as well.
A gap assessment was done and it uncovered several critical gaps between statutory requirement and actual requirements which were met by the company.
Phase 3- Implementation
In this phase, all the entities, sub entities and locations were configured in AVACOM.
This phase is the most critical phase of the project. During this phase, TeamLease Regtech assigned a 2 member team of subject matter experts to work with the client’s project team. This phase lasted about 2 weeks during which the following items were accomplished:
-
Map the Client Organisation (Group, Entities, Sub-Entities, Locations, Departments)
-
Review of identified applicable Acts and Compliances with respective department heads
-
Discussion on identified gaps with department heads and compliance head
-
Mapping of Compliances to specific users along with their roles
-
Hands on training sessions with user groups based on their locations and roles
-
Activation of system for a predetermined go-live date
-
In addition, abstracts of various key acts were prepared, printed and displayed in various offices
-
A comprehensive review of pending renewals and delayed returns was done and one time clean up activity was conducted
The client was keen to leverage IOS and Android based mobile Apps to stay on top of their compliance. Our team helped them download the app and securely sign in and start using. A total of 66 users were identified across the organisation mapped to performer, reviewer, approver and management roles.
In Conclusion
At TeamLease Regtech, we made some unique observations on the challenges faced by the IT & ITES industry in India. Since this industry has grown rapidly, so has the compliance requirements. Often, there is no dedicated compliance officer for mid-size companies in this industry. The CFO / CHRO plays a dual role of a compliance officer as well. As a result, the understanding of applicability of Acts and Compliance is low and they need greater support and assistance in a timely and accurate compliance.
However, we observed that the users in our client organisation were savvy and were quick to adopt the new solution. They were excited at the prospect of leveraging a state of the art, web and mobile based product to bring greater transparency, efficiency and control. We feel that IT & ITES can benefit greatly by migrating their current ad-hoc, people dependent and paper based compliance program to a predictable, process based and digital program.