Is Regulatory Chaos the New Normal?
- Sheila Khosrozadeh
- Jun 3
- 3 min read
One thing is clear for compliance professionals: the days of predictable regulatory change are over. What we’re seeing now isn’t a temporary surge of complexity. It’s the new baseline. Organizations can no longer afford to treat regulatory change as something they manage quarterly. Events unfold rapidly, often with little advance notice, and regulators are responding in real time. The result? A constant need for organizations to reassess, recalibrate, and act.
A Moving Target for Global Compliance
While global compliance has always required vigilance, today, vigilance isn’t enough. Political shifts, economic pressures, and global conflicts are combining in ways that disrupt even the most well-structured compliance strategies.
We’ve seen sanctions updated with minimal warning, trade policies reversed within weeks, and entire regulatory agencies reprioritize enforcement focus. Teams that were previously able to rely on stable patterns are now rethinking their entire approach. More than simply tracking changes, organizations need to quickly understand the impact of changing regulations and the action required to adapt appropriately.
AI Is a Tool, Not a Solution
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become central to many compliance programs. It helps to process massive amounts of regulatory data, flag potential risks, and identify patterns that would be impossible to detect manually, but it’s not a magic fix. The effectiveness of AI for compliance depends entirely on how it’s implemented and governed. Without clear oversight, AI can introduce more risk than it solves, particularly in regard to model transparency, data provenance, and ethical use.
Leaders who are making progress and showing results from AI as an integral part of their compliance program aren’t rushing into adoption. They’re asking hard questions about where AI fits in, who is responsible for reviewing decisions, and how to align use relative to both internal policies and emerging external standards.
New Pressures, New Rules
Economic volatility is currently a leading factor in regulatory activity. Inflation, supply chain disruption, and labor shortages are driving new rules, many of which are being rolled out quickly and without broad stakeholder input.
Unfortunately, these rules aren’t always coordinated, and that lack of coordination can have a cascading effect. A policy change in one jurisdiction may trigger compliance obligations in another. For multinational organizations, staying ahead requires not only monitoring new developments but understanding how those developments interact across regions.
What High-Performing Teams Are Doing Differently
Beyond simply reacting more quickly, the best compliance teams are shifting how they work. They’ve built systems that support real-time tracking. They’ve created workflows that make it easy to document decisions and show regulators how they’ve responded to change. And they’ve integrated compliance into broader business conversations rather than treating it as an afterthought.
This shift isn’t about tools alone. It’s about mindset. Being proactive in today’s regulatory environment means building processes that can evolve. It means investing in platforms that don’t just collect information but connect it across teams. It also means giving compliance a seat at the strategy table, not just at the audit meeting.
Preparing for What Comes Next
The pace of change may not slow down in 2025, but organizations that are best equipped to respond effectively will be those that combine technology with judgment, policy with practice, and speed with precision. While there is no single playbook for managing regulatory chaos, there are clear patterns among teams that are doing it well:
They stay close to the signals.
They build flexibility into their systems.
They treat compliance as a core business function, not just a requirement.
We built Archer Evolv™ for Compliance to support exactly this kind of work. It’s designed to help teams track regulatory changes as they happen, manage assessments with less manual effort, and keep leadership informed with clear, reliable data.
If you’re rethinking your approach to compliance, we’d welcome the opportunity to show you how we can help:
Schedule a demo to learn how Archer Evolv™ for Compliance can help you stay ready, regardless of what changes come next.
