AMR Research

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

GRC initiatives gaining, compliance still a must-do

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:59:59 -0400

We've discussed the idea that compliance initiatives can yield strategic benefits, if done right. A new survey from AMR Research seems to suggest that more companies are getting on board with this idea. Companies will spend more than $32 billion on governance, risk management and compliance (GRC) in 2008. That's an increase of 7.4 percent over 2007. Meanwhile, spending on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance is expected to grow only 2 percent to $6.2 billion. What to make of this? The fact is, that a lot of GRC investment relates to Sarbox compliance. Rather than a Sarbox-specific project, why not include the project as part of larger, more strategic, deployment? Risk-management, intimately related to Sarbox, is seen as a big driver behind the trend.

For more:
- here's the release

Related Articles:
CFOs face complex GRC software decisions. Article
Will the economy zap compliance issues? Article
GRC software seems to be rising. Article
Oracle aims for GRC eco-system. Article