Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »
Public Council Teleconference: Application Rationalization — Hidden Costs and Smart Decisions
November 17 at 11:00 am US/Eastern (GMT-5)
Join Honorio Padrón, of The Hackett Group, who will share the drivers for companies to tackle application rationalization and the results of research that define the hidden cost of complexity. Additionally, we will discuss key decision milestones—to start or not, holding the course steady and fulfilling expectations.
Virtual Desktop Cost-Benefit Analysis — Michael Jacobs, Catlin Group
The analysis contained in this presentation measures the cost of everything from the machines and licenses to the infrastructure for virtual vs. traditional desktop environments.
Honor your best senior team members - Apply for the CIO Ones to Watch Award
Get well-earned public recognition for your top up-and-coming team members, your IT organization and your enterprise. Award winners will be announced, publicized and feted in May 2010, great timing to help attract new IT recruits to your company.
Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »October 01, 2007 — CIO —
The difficulties of complying with regulations aren't going away; however, there is vast opportunity for organizations to gain competitive advantage by developing the right information technology infrastructure, policies and processes.
Companies looking to stay off the compliance hot seat should develop a repeatable compliance framework, a centralized control mechanism and a top-down organizational structure to implement compliance procedures across the organization. Doing so can help organizations respond to requirements in a faster, more flexible manner.
Companies that treat compliance as a one-time project, on the other hand, may spend up to 10 times more on IT-related measures than for those who take a proactive and integrated approach, according to research firm Gartner.
As threats of accounting scandals, terrorist attacks and data breaches multiply, the importance of laws such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA is more apparent than ever. Accordingly, the executive suite is becoming more involved with compliance strategy and is demanding increased oversight.
Despite this increased urgency, however, many companies still tackle compliance only when they need to meet a requirement by a certain deadline or avoid lawsuits. Smart companies see an opportunity to build a service-oriented architecture (SOA) as an IT backbone to assess the effect of compliance on business processes and develop a unified approach to replace manual siloed processes.
Employing a Centralized Control Framework
Rather than addressing individual requirements, leading organizations are looking at a centralized control infrastructure based on SOA to manage critical business processes.
To build this framework, the first challenge is the collection and analysis of compliance data that is captured across different repositories within an organization in a consistent, reliable and predictable manner. This can be exacerbated by the relentless deluge of data.
Organizations then have the difficult task of managing the enormous amounts of data effectively and making sense of the information they have collected over the years. They continue to struggle with locating and governing data, determining its worth, classifying risks and identifying whether they have adequate control measures in place. Further, many companies aren't sure how to measure progress around these problems.
Not having an adequate method of governing and measuring data puts the organization at risk. For example, to achieve compliance, organizations should be cognizant of the business impact of an IT outage and have real-time data to assess the availability of mission-critical business capabilities.
Having a centralized control framework allows companies to effectively implement policies while providing a linkage to business controls, including controls over financial reporting. It helps protect sensitive information from unauthorized disclosure, safeguards the accuracy and completeness of information, ensures that information and vital IT services are available when required, and provides information and services with a high level of efficiency.