The Financial Meltdown Points to a Growing Role for BI, GRC

February 2, 2009

As the regulatory environment tightens resulting from the current financial crisis, it’s no surprise that companies will be looking to do more with less. In the risk management space, companies will begin to leverage their siloed risk and compliance capabilities across functions throughout the enterprise.

Listen to the Podcast:

With today’s spectacular financial failures, there is increased attention on the BI/Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC) sector. One cause of these failures is a siloed approach to risk management which does not allow for an assessment of aggregated risk at the top of the organization. The result is that organizations underestimate or can’t identify the true risk in the business.

In order to gain visibility into risks, executives need a business intelligence (BI) layer on top of their risk and compliance systems that will report on the status of risk and compliance initiatives in different business units across the enterprise. When organizations leverage GRC technology that includes a solid BI front end, GRC can be made relevant for business managers, regardless of the department. BI can then provide information about the status of the organization in such a way that the data then becomes actionable for business managers.

Investment in risk management technology has never been more important for the prevention of catastrophic failures and risks. More companies are beginning to take a programmatic approach to risk management, resulting in steady or increased funding for GRC technology initiatives. This in turn, will dramatically improve their visibility into the risk inherent within the business.

Gordon Burnes is OpenPages’ Vice President of Marketing.

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The View from Here: Improving the Business Shouldn’t Put Anyone to Sleep

July 30, 2008

When The IT-Finance Connection launched a few months ago, we thought that we’d cover unified communications, VoIP and other sexy new applications and services. Read more

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GRC: Too Many Ways to Skin a Cat?

July 29, 2008

In a perfect business world, profits would always go up, IT would always be in alignment with the business, and governance, risk and compliance (GRC) would be managed by one standard platform serving all business units and departments across the enterprise. Read more

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The IT-Finance Connection: Podcasts and Resource Guides

July 23, 2008

Resource Guides:

Podcasts:

IT’s Changing Role in VoIP Adoption with Jon Arnold, Principal, Jon Arnold & Associates
Gaining Trust and Buy-in Key for CIOs with Robert Bradman, CEO of the Bradman Group
The Road to Compliance with Amanda Finch, the CEO of ADV Group
IT Risks, and Solutions, Run Deep with Patrick Conte, the CEO of Agiliance
Unified Communications: No Overnight Sensation with Charles Thompson, the Manager of Systems Engineering for Network Instruments
Using Time(sheet Software) Wisely with Curt Finch, CEO, Journyx
IT Can Help the CEO and CFO Get to Yes With Glenn Calafati, director of Product Development and David Strauss, Vice President of Marketing, Optimum Lightpath
Deep Communications Leads to the Best Mobilization Strategies with David Yu, Director of Unified Communications Consulting, Avaya
CIOs Gain by Seeing Beyond Technology with Prevoyance Group president and founder Patrick Gray
The Maturing of GRC with Gordon Burnes, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for OpenPages
Building Better Reports with Doug Sheehan, a principal in Investment Conversions & Consulting
IT’s Intregal Role in Compliance with DataFlux president and CEO Tony Fisher
Saas: Faster Change, Deeper IT Involvement with Ariel Kelman, Senior Director of Platform Product Marketing, Salesforce.com
Security and Compliance: IT and Finance Must Work Together with Avishai Wool, the CEO and Co-Founder of AlgoSec
Where Does Telepresence Fit In? with Jim Kaufold, Senior Vice President of Global Sales for Teliris
Virtual PBXes Offer Great Advantages — If Used Correctly with Steve Adams, Vice President of Marketing, Protus
Reimaging the Datacenter with Rich Lechner, Vice President of Marketing & Strategy for Enterprise Systems at IBM.
SaaS and Desktop Productivity Tools with Siamak Farah, CEO of InfoStreet.
SaaS is Faster and More Responsive than Traditional App Creation with Stephane Dubois, the Chairman, CEO and Founder of Xignite.
Where BI and EPM Software Meet with David Abdo, CEO of Bitam.
News Podcast: Pentaho Helps NHS in the U.K. with Lance Walter, Vice President of Marketing, Pentaho.
Why IT Departments Should Drive BI with Ron Moore, Founder, MTG.
Tableau Software’s Chabot: Not Your Father’s Business Intelligence with Christian Chabot, Tableau Software.
EPM Allows More Effective Use of BI Tools with Lori Wizdo, Vice President of Marketing for KNOA Software.

Written by Carl · Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Risk Management, a Real World Tool, Goes Beyond Simple Security

June 23, 2008

A common disconnect between finance and IT stems from a different understanding of what risk is.

IT has a tendency to view risk through the prism of security—managing controls and compliance through checklists and best practices. From the finance side, however, true risk management deals with uncertainty around outcomes–looking at potential consequences in business terms and weighing those against potential reward. Read more

Written by Carl · Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The Maturing of GRC

May 28, 2008

In the immediate aftermath of Enron, Adelphia and other scandals, the Governance, Risk and Compliance sector focused on very fundamental things–helping companies follow the law and stay out of trouble. Today, says Gordon Burnes, OpenPage’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, the sector has matured to become an integral part of an organization’s internal structure.