Why the right IT partner matters more than ever for EU regulatory compliance

From NIS2, MiCA, and DORA to upcoming AI regulations, EU regulations are reshaping every sector with stricter requirements for security, transparency, and accessibility. This transforms what were once legal considerations into hands-on implementation work: rebuilding systems, embedding new controls, and preparing for compliance audits. 

For many organisations, this technical shift has created a critical gap. "The regulatory landscape has fundamentally changed how businesses need to think about their technology infrastructure," says Andzej Suskevic, the CEO of Baltic Amadeus. His insights reveal why choosing the right IT partner could make or break your compliance strategy. 

Compliance is becoming a technical responsibility

Several major EU regulations have recently come into effect. The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which wasactive in January 2025, introduces strict ICT risk, continuity, and testing standards across the financial sector. The Network and Information Security Directive 2.0 (NIS2), enforced from October 2024, raises cybersecurity requirements for a wide range of critical and essential entities. The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), implemented in December 2024, regulates how crypto-asset services operate within the EU. And the European Accessibility Act (EAA), with a deadline in June 2025, requires public-facing digital services to be accessible to people with disabilities. 

Failure to comply with regulations carries serious consequences, such as hefty fines, legal battles, damage to your company's reputation, and missed business opportunities. With many regulations still relatively new, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) shows some of the clearest examples. In effect across the EU since 2018, it has set a global benchmark for enforcement. In 2023, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) hit the US tech giant Meta with a record-breaking €1.2 billion fine, which has become a powerful reminder of how expensive non-compliance can be. 

While legal teams define what regulatory frameworks require, it's the technical team's or IT vendor's responsibility to ensure those requirements are met in practice: implementing compliant architecture, building accessibility, ensuring traceability, and preparing for resilience testing. 

Organisations need IT teams who understand both the regulatory landscape and the infrastructure behind secure, reliable, user-centric digital services. When compliance is approached in isolation, often as a purely legal matter, it can lead to disconnects during implementation. The result? Costly gaps, repeated rework, and last-minute delays that disrupt operations and consume valuable resources. 

"The biggest challenge we see is companies treating compliance as a one-off project rather than an integral part of their strategy. Successful organisations embed regulatory obligations into their technology foundations, which reduces long-term risk, improves operational efficiency, and builds trust with clients," states the CEO of Baltic Amadeus. 

Turning compliance into a competitive advantage

Some organisations recognise that early compliance action creates real business value. DORA-aligned infrastructure increases resilience, NIS2 measures improve threat response, and EAA boosts usability across wider audiences. MiCA allows crypto platforms to gain structured access to EU markets and investor trust. 

Forward-thinking businesses approach compliance as an opportunity to upgrade their systems in ways that create lasting value. Regulatory readiness often leads to better architecture, fewer vulnerabilities, and higher stakeholder confidence. 

Looking ahead, this landscape will continue to expand. The AI Act, approved in 2024 and entering full applicability in 2027, will introduce additional layers of governance around risk, transparency, and accountability in artificial intelligence systems. Organisations building or integrating AI-based services face another wave of technical compliance work. 

"Each regulation brings its own complexity," Suskevic adds. "Staying ahead means building systems that don't just tick compliance boxes today but scale sustainably as requirements evolve. We help clients achieve this through in-depth assessments, clear and audit-ready documentation, resilient system architectures, and security frameworks designed to evolve with future requirements." 

Choosing your IT Partner

Many businesses lack the internal IT capacity to implement complex regulatory requirements. In fact, a report by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) revealed that 89% of organisations would require more cybersecurity staff to comply with NIS2, with the largest talent gaps in cybersecurity architecture and engineering (46%) and cybersecurity operations (40%). This growing demand for dedicated IT skills highlights a key challenge as well as the value of IT vendor support. 

Responding to it, Suskevic mentions: 

"Regulatory compliance can be complicated and costly, especially for organisations without in-house IT teams. In these cases, the ability to access specialised IT competencies becomes critical. The right external IT partner can help bridge that shortage, not just to meet compliance deadlines, but to ensure long-term operational resilience." 

The ideal IT partner combines deep technical knowledge with regulatory experience and offers proven methodologies for compliance integration. Many established IT vendors maintain partnerships with specialist law firms, enabling them to deliver both legal interpretation and technical implementation from a single source. This integrated approach eliminates coordination gaps and ensures requirements translate accurately into working systems. 

Organisations can shift regulatory compliance from a reactive legal obligation to a strategic asset by partnering with IT vendors early in the planning process. This proactive approach not only prevents pricey last-minute challenges but also embeds compliance into operations, strengthening long-term competitiveness.