Innovation in Compliance: Integrating AI in Compliance and Risk Management with Jana Brost
Compliance professionals across industries—from construction and property management to finance and manufacturing—face a critical imperative: not just preparing for innovation, but actively embracing it. On Tom Fox's Innovation in Compliance podcast, Jana Brost, COO of myCOI (now illumend), explores how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the intersection of compliance, risk management, and certificate of insurance tracking for businesses nationwide.
Understanding COIs in the Compliance Landscape
For many compliance professionals and risk managers, Certificates of Insurance represent a fundamental yet often overlooked compliance challenge. When construction companies in Texas and California hire subcontractors, when property managers in New York and Florida engage maintenance vendors, or when any organization works with third-party providers, COIs serve as critical verification that partners carry appropriate insurance coverage.
Brost, bringing extensive background in high-growth business process outsourcing and data analytics, explains how these seemingly simple documents underpin comprehensive risk management strategies. Missing or inadequate COI verification doesn't just create administrative headaches—it exposes organizations to significant liability that can derail projects, damage relationships, and trigger costly legal complications.
The Evolution from Manual to Intelligent Compliance
The conversation examines how traditional COI management relied on manual processes that consumed disproportionate resources while delivering inconsistent results. Compliance teams spent hours chasing documents, deciphering complex insurance policies, and tracking expiration dates across hundreds or thousands of vendor relationships. This reactive approach inevitably led to coverage gaps, expired certificates going unnoticed, and compliance issues surfacing only after problems escalated.
AI-powered compliance platforms fundamentally transform this equation. Rather than treating certificate of insurance tracking as administrative burden, intelligent systems proactively manage the entire compliance lifecycle—automatically reviewing documents, identifying missing endorsements, flagging coverage deficiencies, and facilitating clear communication between certificate holders and their partners.
Empowering Both Sides of the Compliance Relationship
A key insight from the podcast: effective AI in compliance creates value for all stakeholders. Vendors, subcontractors, and service providers benefit from clearer requirements presented in accessible language rather than insurance jargon. They receive timely notifications about upcoming expirations and specific guidance on resolving coverage gaps—eliminating confusion and reducing back-and-forth communications.
Certificate holders—whether general contractors, property management firms, franchise operators, or corporate compliance teams—gain unprecedented visibility into their risk exposure. Instead of wondering whether partners maintain proper coverage, they have real-time compliance status across their entire vendor ecosystem. This visibility enables proactive risk mitigation rather than reactive crisis management.
For markets across construction, commercial real estate, facility management, and business process outsourcing, this dual-sided value proposition transforms compliance from adversarial enforcement into collaborative partnership.
Key Industry Trends Shaping Compliance Technology
The discussion highlights three critical trends driving AI adoption in risk management:
Speed: Organizations can no longer afford compliance processes that lag weeks behind business operations. AI-powered systems deliver real-time verification and instantaneous alerts, ensuring compliance keeps pace with business velocity.
Accuracy: Manual review inevitably introduces human error. Intelligent systems consistently apply verification standards, catch details human reviewers miss, and maintain audit-ready documentation without variation in quality.
User Experience: Technology that creates friction gets abandoned. The most effective compliance platforms make requirements clear, submission straightforward, and status transparent—reducing resistance while improving outcomes.
The Future: AI, Culture, and Employee Engagement
Brost offers forward-looking perspective on how AI in compliance and risk management extends beyond operational efficiency into organizational culture. When technology handles routine verification tasks, compliance professionals can focus on strategic advisory roles—helping leadership understand risk exposure, identify emerging trends, and make informed decisions about vendor partnerships.
This evolution affects employee engagement profoundly. Teams freed from tedious manual tasks experience higher job satisfaction and can contribute more meaningfully to organizational success. For compliance departments traditionally viewed as cost centers, AI-enabled transformation positions them as value creators who enable business growth while managing risk effectively.
Practical Implications for Compliance Professionals
The Innovation in Compliance podcast provides actionable insights for risk managers, compliance officers, and business leaders managing third-party relationships across industries. Whether overseeing construction projects requiring subcontractor insurance, managing commercial properties with vendor networks, coordinating franchise operationswith consistent standards, or handling any business involving certificate of insurance requirements, understanding how AI transforms compliance processes is essential.
Organizations embracing these capabilities position themselves for competitive advantage—winning better contracts, negotiating favorable terms, building reputations as reliable partners, and scaling operations without proportional increases in compliance overhead.