Recent initiatives such as Sarbanes Oxley and Basel II have increased the level of oversight and scrutiny that is applied to many companies. The need for new procedures and increased transparency has resulted in many organizations dedicating significant time and resources to governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) activities. As a result they have had to divert attention from revenue-generating activities.

Initially the challenge of Compliance seems somewhat overwhelming. Whether it is Part 11, HIPAA or SOX the roadmap is daunting.

However, by utilizing a risk based approach to compliance and governance the most critical issues are addressed first. Programs can be put in place to plan for the remediation and mitigation of the less critical issues in a timely manner. The benefits of a comprehensive risk based approach include:

• Significantly reduce your capital and expense costs associated with compliance and vastly improve the quality of your organization’s regulatory compliance—reducing risk and exposure across the organization.
• Increase operation efficiency and productivity of the organization through the development and use of standard operating procedures, defined operation roles and activity oversight programs.
• Even companies that are not in a regulated industry often need to meet regulatory standards. By establishing the good practices and documentation that is defined by the various regulations (such as HSPD-12 and SAS-70), non-regulated companies can meet the minimum standards required to conduct business with more regulated clients.