Compliance costs are rising – can you reduce them through Digital Evidence Building?

In the defence industry, compliance is obviously a non-negotiable requirement, but as anyone working in the domain knows, its costs keep rising. There is the financial cost; dedicated compliance staff, ongoing training and audits all require budget. There are also time and opportunity costs. Teams often spend significant hours managing paperwork, chasing evidence, and updating records as well as attending meetings and audits. The energy spent on compliance can and will pull focus away from innovation and operations.

While the price of non-compliance is much higher – reduced safety, reputational risk and contract losses – organisations are increasingly asking: how can we reduce the burden without reducing the standard?

Digitisation: A Double-Edged Sword

Digitising compliance requirements has clear advantages:

• Efficiency: Automated processes reduce manual admin and errors.
• Transparency: Digital records improve visibility for audits and reporting.
• Consistency: Centralised systems ensure the right data is captured in the right way, and every time.

Yet digitisation comes with its own challenges:

• Implementation costs: Transitioning from legacy systems or manual processes can require significant investment.
• Complexity: Not all compliance requirements lend themselves easily to digital capture and evidence building.
• Human factors: Change management is often underestimated; staff need time and support to adopt new tools.

Digital Evidence Builder (DEB) – A Practical Step Forward

At tlmNexus, many of our team are ex Forces and we have seen first-hand how compliance processes can weigh on organisations. That is why we developed our Digital Evidence Builder (DEB) tool,  a clean and uncomplicated software-as-a-service programme.

DEB is designed to ease the burden by:

• Providing a single, secure, digital source of truth.
• Streamlining the capture of compliance evidence.
• Reducing manual effort and freeing up valuable time for higher-value tasks.

It is not about digitisation for its own sake. As an SME, we have the agility to work closely with users to create tools that focus tightly on addressing real pain points and deliver measurable value.

The cost of compliance will never disappear, but by embracing thoughtful, well-designed digital tools, defence organisations can shift the balance, reducing the burden while strengthening assurance.

The question for every organisation is: how can you make compliance not just a cost of doing business, but an enabler of better business?

For further information and a demonstration of Digital Evidence Builder contact DKilbride@tlmnexus.com

Our photograph is supplied courtesy of Crown Copyright