Brian Sennett

Hundreds of new industry-specific mandates, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and privacy requirements based on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, are either in place now or scheduled to take effect in the near future. While complying with these mandates may seem daunting, businesses actually now have an opportunity to make improvements that go beyond mere compliance to increase the efficiency and predictability of their operations. Unfortunately, many organizations don't view compliance with optimism, and it's easy to see why. Compliance means managing and interpreting large amounts of information from disparate sources. It may require significant changes in technology infrastructures, financial reporting, records management and retention, and risk management practices. AMR Research estimates that spending on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance in 2005 co... (more)