The Confederación Empresarial de Madrid, CEIM, and Iberdrola have celebrated on Wednesday a day on compliance programs in companies, where they have highlighted the compliance systems as a differential key for the competitiveness of companies and a basic element for accessing bids of purchases and services, both in the public and private sector.
Those responsible for opening the event were the president of the Energy and Water Commission of CEIM, Efigenio Golvano, and the general secretary of CEIM, Sara Molero, who stressed that regulatory compliance systems are called to become a fundamental tool to work with the Public Administration and with large multinationals or brands. "Beyond avoiding administrative or criminal responsibilities, compliance also obeys reputational motivations," he added.
For his part, the director of Compliance of Iberdrola Spain, Fernando Fraile, stressed the importance that "companies that have already implemented a robust compliance system promote among their suppliers and collaborators those systems, called to become key element for business competitiveness"
Ramón Zumárraga, Director of Purchasing Services of Iberdrola Spain, underlined the "tractor effect" of the company in this area and explained how Iberdrola ponders in its supplier selection processes "not only economic, technical criteria, but also sustainability , in which we include those related to the implementation of compliance systems ".
From the point of view of the public sphere, Irene Navarro, director of the Madrid for Excellence Foundation, explained how this year the process of awarding the Madrid Excelente label has been improved, "which recognizes excellence in the management of companies and institutions, incorporating aspects related to compliance into its reference model ". He also highlighted that these processes "have been included in the Corporate Social Responsibility part of the model, in such a way that organizations have to explain what processes they follow and what actions they develop in compliance matters".
During the day, in which the II Program for the development of compliance systems in companies and public bodies was presented, organized by Iberdrola and ASCOM, the president of the Spanish Compliance Association (ASCOM), Sylvia Enseñat, highlighted the importance that SMEs "lose their fear" towards compliance and has conveyed that it is not as complicated as it may seem: "They can take advantage of many of the controls they already have in place, adapt procedures to the size of the company, and above all , see it as an opportunity instead of as a cost and take advantage of it as a competitive advantage ".
The day was completed with a round table, moderated by Begoña Fernández, partner of Deloitte Legal, where the success and challenges that SMEs face in the implementation of compliance systems have been analyzed. For this, the Director of Organization of SERIKAT, Íñigo Landa, and the responsible and compliance officer of the Technological Institute of Energy, Alejandro Almela, have explained their experiences, coinciding both in the importance that has today the implementation of these systems and the Do not be afraid to implant them.