In the early days of TCT, our world headquarters consisted of four guys holed up in a drafty room above a garage. We spent hours on end, bent over our keyboards and squinting at our monitors, fueled by caffeine and a vision. The mission: to build an automated, turnkey compliance management tool that could be used by anyone in the compliance space.
I had been through compliance myself and I knew just how hard it is to understand everything there is to master. That, and the effort of managing all the moving parts going in every direction, was nearly an impossible challenge.
Over several years, I’d discovered how to make compliance management easier — but I knew that most companies were struggling to make heads or tails of their own compliance efforts. I also knew that I could help others who were going through the same things that I had been through.
So, in the middle of the biggest recession since the Great Depression, I decided to leave a full-time job and step into the space of security/compliance consulting.
Building a Better Mousetrap
Out of that consulting came the vision for a software platform that could take the chaos out of compliance management and automate the process. My consulting clients were following multiple standards — HIPAA, PCI, SOC, NIST, ISO. I saw the commonalities between them and realized there was a way to streamline compliance, no matter what standard you were following.
Soon after that, I gathered some troops and we started sharing the room above the garage.
In the five years since it was launched, TCT Portal has helped more and more companies experience a satisfaction around compliance that they never thought possible. The automation software has taken the chaos out of compliance and introduced clarity and simplicity. Both compliance assessors and the companies that need to prove compliance are enjoying a higher level of contentment than ever before.
A Company with a Mission: You
Not only is TCT Portal a different kind of compliance tool, but Total Compliance Tracking has been a different kind of company from Day One. I don’t see how you can help people get the most out of their compliance efforts if you haven’t gone through it yourself.
TCT was founded on a vision to support every person who deals with compliance — those who need to prove compliance, auditors and assessors, even vendors and partners.
My prior experience working my way up through the IT Management ranks was quite formative. I paid close attention to the ways that business leaders were running organizations, how they managed employees, and how they treated others. Those who were self-interested created ripples of chaos, frustration, and resentment. I wanted to run a different kind of company.
I can’t tell you how rewarding it has been to see organizations recover wasted time and effort, become more efficient, and even find joy in compliance. The same is true for auditors and assessors — I’ve had the privilege to see them perform their engagements with less effort and more freedom to help clients navigate the waters of compliance.
The difference is remarkable. I see greater peace and joy where there had been chaos and confusion.
As TCT continues to grow, our first charge is to give back — to support our partners in compliance, and to extend our reach beyond the compliance community. Our long-term vision for helping others is to apply 50 percent of our profits to charitable donations and other ventures where we can help others. We haven’t arrived there yet, but helping others is in our DNA. We will continue to expand and deepen our service to clients and community from year to year.
Holiday Wishes to You
This time of year, it’s common to take stock of where you’re at. As I look around the compliance community, I have a great appreciation for all of the folks who have supported TCT — vendors, partners, and clients. Every one of them deserves credit for our success thus far. It’s been incredibly rewarding to see the appreciation of our customers, especially those who caught the vision early on. They put their faith in this company — and we strive every day to make them glad they did.
To all our customers and partners, may the peace and joy of the holiday season be yours — and may all your compliance efforts in the coming year be rewarding and chaos-free.
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