SAP

The state for GRC 2.0

Jim Kim — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:44:00 -0400

What to make of the governance, risk and compliance software market? Well, it has attracted a host of big players, notably SAP and Oracle, as well as a host of increasingly well-known smaller companies. And most companies at least have an understanding of what GRC is all about. But the functionality needs to evolve. OpRisk & Compliance notes: "If the first generation (GRC 1.0) was heavily oriented toward compliance, then certainly one strategic imperative is that the next-generation GRC 2.0 solutions place increased emphasis on value (which, in essence, means there must be a more business-oriented focus on proactive risk identification, assessment and mitigation)." Many have noted that compliance-oriented software is only as good as the strategic benefits it yields. That seems to be the focus of GRC 2.0. We're still chasing the "holistic" and truly "integrated" solution. But we are seeing a lot 2.0-like products coming out. More soon.

For more:
- here's the OpRisk & Compliance article

Primer: GRC software market

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:59:59 -0400

AMR Research projects spending on government, risk and compliance applications and services will top $32.1 billion in 2008, up 7.4 percent from 2007. In 2009, growth is projected at 7 percent. In a really tough IT spending environment, these are pretty good numbers. This will be a front-burner issue for a lot of folks, so it never hurts to recap what the niche is all about. These software packages started out as Sarbanes-Oxley compliance applications. Financial controls are still key, but the feature set has expanded, notes Financial Week. The list includes "legal (email retention, data privacy), environmental (greenhouse gas inventories), financial (capital adequacy), and technology (IT governance)." Increasingly, the big boys--SAP and Oracle--are moving in with encompassing applications.

For more:
- here's the Financial Week primer

Compliance features still migrating into big apps

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:59:59 -0400

There are a whole lot of vendors out there hawking compliance-related products. The GRC market seems to be faring decently, even at a time when the technology spend at many companies is coming under pressure. The big vendors may see an expanded opportunity for their built-in compliance features. We've noted that Oracle, IBM and SAP have been expanding their suites to include more compliance features. Now comes Microsoft. It is rolling out a host of upgraded midmarket products. The new release of Dynamics AX, an enterprise resource planning program known as AX 5.0, now includes a compliance center, where people can access Sarbanes-Oxley data.

For more:
- here's a ChannelWeb article

Oracle aims for GRC eco-system

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:59:59 -0500

The big boys--Oracle, IBM and SAP--are certainly aware of the demand for compliance-driven software solutions. The solutions span the entire business market, and Oracle's idea is to make this "eco-system" a little more accessible via its partner platform. The goal of the Oracle Enterprise Security and GRC Initiative is to make getting partner services out in front of customers a bit easier. So for Oracle-based service providers, the program can't hurt. The release notes data from AMR Research that shows GRC spending will reach $30 billion in this year, an increase of 8.5 percent over 2006. That's a bit misleading, as software in other high-growth categories, such as business intelligence, are often driven by compliance needs.

For more:
- see Oracle's release

How to upgrade your finance system

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 20:01:38 -0400

If you work for a medium to large company, chances are good that you've at least considered installing or upgrading to a new financial system, either SAP or other. It is a process fraught with mines that can severely affect the ROI of the system. A study by CFO Research Services noted that common pitfalls include faulty selection of implementation partners, ineffective technology rollout, managing the procedural change and a lack of good return measurement. This is an area where teamwork by the financial officers and the IT officers is of paramount importance. It pays to plan this out really well. Article (computerweekly.com)

GRC software seems to be rising

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 20:01:39 -0400

Over the past year or so, you've probably tripped across the term GRC software. Governance, risk and compliance management software basically refers to software that integrates several single-point solutions into a comprehensive infrastructure. A defining moment for the niche came in 2006, when SAP launched a product aimed at addressing a wide range of GRC issues. But SAP is hardly alone. BWise, MEGA International and OpenPages in some ways are out front. OpenPages may be onto something with its modular approach to complying with different regulatory schemes. And Oracle seems to be bent on making a splash. It gets a bit techie, but it would be worth the effort to stay up with the field. Gartner came out with a Magic Quadrant for the industry last month.

For more:
- here's a good wrap-up

Does Sarbox spell the end of ERP?

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 19:01:39 -0500

Over the years, enterprise resource planning software has taken a lot of hits. Seems like the papers were filled with stories not too long ago about the vaunted "pain of an ERP implementation." Still, ERP as a concept, marketed hard and well by SAP and Oracle, emerged victorious, and most major Fortune 100 type companies seem to have deployed one or more module of the software. But is the ERP era over? Some think that the monolithic aspects of ERP make it unsuited for today's environment. Sarbanes-Oxley is a great example of the kind of event that corporations must be able to adapt to. It--and other regulations--arose fairly quickly and with a good deal of complexity. It would have been nice if companies could have fairly easily modified their software environments to account for the kind of reporting and control the law required. But that wasn't even on the table. Most were forced into some kind of custom solution. At the same time, more companies are taking the software as a service approach more seriously. The bottom line is that Sarbanes-Oxley may prove to be one of several reasons why ERP fades over time.

For more:
- here's an article from Knowledge at W.P. Carey

Gain control over diverse database environments

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 19:01:38 -0500

Many companies have evolved some pretty complex database environments over the years, featuring a mix of products that aren't necessarily working in harmony. Hardly a surprise then that a recent survey from Oracle found that four out of ten respondents in large enterprises aver that they are struggling to extract and consolidate audit data from disparate applications, from the likes of Oracle, PeopleSoft, and SAP. Also, three-fourths of Oracle users say they also use other products, notably Microsoft's SQL Server and IBM's DB2. There is a whole list of issue for the compliance folks, from security to user privileges to everything else. About 65 percent of respondents, however, say that automating database activity would save money, and the areas seems one that is primed for investment in 2007. It will pay to think through the issues, including standardizing on one platform down the road, if that makes sense. Here's a summary of the survey from Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Journal.