Uncovering opportunity

Beyond meeting deadlines and delivering proper reports, businesses now have a golden opportunity to uncover data and processes that previously may have been hidden from view.

by Joe McKendrick

In recent years, executives the world over have been gnashing their teeth over a bevy of new information reporting requirements heaped upon their businesses. By some estimates, there are now more than 150 laws and regulations from federal, state, international and industry oversight bodies. These laws all impose some set of requirements on IT infrastructures. The punishment—through fines and even prosecution of non-complying executives—is well documented. However, there are some significant advantages a company can enjoy as a result of having a robust compliance effort as well.

Most prominent in recent times has been the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which puts the onus on publicly traded organizations to deliver visible, timely, accurate and auditable information across an organization. Despite the challenges associated with the act, Sarbanes-Oxley also presents what many industry experts are starting to see as the greatest opportunity to achieve business value.

Such mandates have generated a sense of urgency about information quality and integrity within the C-level executive suite. AMR Research estimates that the cost of compliance over the next five years will reach the $80 billion mark. Organizations will spend close to $15.5 billion on compliance-related activities in 2005 alone.

Even companies that are not directly affected by major laws or regulations need access to detailed data to be able to compete with companies that are gaining a better understanding of information flowing through their enterprises and of the best ways to act on this information. Many companies—both publicly and privately held—have been hampered in their decision making by multiple and often conflicting data sources and applications.

Information transparency can help reduce conflicts. To achieve such transparency, companies need to move from mere compliance—meeting deadlines and issuing reports—to a "sustainable compliance" stance. Unlike compliance, which may incur a flurry of auditing activity at the end of every quarter, sustainable compliance is an ongoing, day-to-day commitment to accurate and reliable information management. Sustainable compliance not only addresses the letter of the law but also leverages these efforts to achieve a number of wide-ranging benefits to the business as a whole. Beyond meeting deadlines and delivering proper reports, businesses now have a golden opportunity to uncover data and processes that previously may have been hidden from view. They have the opportunity to simplify, centralize and standardize systems and data from across the enterprise. This is an opportunity to concentrate on achieving a single, comprehensive view of the business.

Some experts consider sustainable compliance to be more of an ongoing journey than a project. While some parts of the journey will take time, such efforts will pay off in greater efficiencies in the management of processes, supported by integrated and accurate data from throughout the organization.

In this special report, Teradata Magazine talks to leading compliance and data management experts about the many opportunities that sustainable compliance mandates offer organizations. In addition, we'll explore the important role the enterprise data warehouse plays in the sustainable compliance journey, and provide guidelines on how to establish a sustainable compliance program within your organization. And, of course, we'll examine where your compliance efforts could go next. T